5.14-What gifts are we to bring to God?
5.14-
Principle #13
-What gifts are we to bring to God?
We believe that the most important
gift to God is the gift of justice, mercy and faithfulness. In addition to this Jesus endorsed the Jewish
tradition of giving away 10% of your income.
Jesus tells us that the Pharisees
who gave 10% of their wealth were wrong because they gave money without caring
about justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Matthew 23.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have
neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.
You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You
blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Malachi 3.
6 “I the Lord do
not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever
since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have
not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to
return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing
you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You
are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring
the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test
me in this,” says the Lord
Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour
out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I
will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will
not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will
call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
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