You have NO IDEA how ironic it is that I am the one doing this section that has a lot to do with money! I have NO DOUBT that God has a sense of humor! I am currently going through Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" class at Oak Hill and there is a GOOD reason for this! Money issues are the "thorn in my flesh", to coin a phrase from Paul. Any of you that know me at all probably have a BIG grin on your face right about now because you know how funny this is!!!Anyway, Chapter 14 is a review of the clean and unclean foods for the Israelites' diet. I covered this in detail in an earlier post (again, God knows how much we need repetition!). The main point from this chapter and that post is that the Israelites were to be set apart from all of the other nations around them and this was one of the main ways they were to do this. This chapter also gives the requirement of the tithe to the Lord. If you will recall with me, this was established WAY BACK in Genesis with Abram (Genesis 14:20). Some of you may be thinking to yourselves, we are a New Testament church so why do we have to still obey the tithe? This is an excellent question! Let's think about this logically...remember that Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy when being tempted by Satan, Jesus also quoted from MANY other Old Testament books during His ministry, Jesus is woven all throughout the Old Testament (we will see this as we progress!), the New Testament Jews still gave a tithe to the Levites, and the Ten Commandments are still in effect today! ALL of this gives validity to the requirements of the Old Testament and thus to the tithe. I can ALSO testify to the fact that God has protected us during our financial crisis and guess what...we tithe!!! I am just SO thankful that God only asks us to give 10% back to Him and not any more! It is ALL His money anyway! We could not earn ANY of it if He did not give us the breath in our lungs to live through the day!!!!
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Chapter 15 discusses the "Sabbatical Year" in which all debts between Israelites were cancelled. This happened every seven years. It is very interesting to me tha
t this is also how long bad credit will stay on your credit report! The secular world does things that are dictated in the Bible and do not even realize it most of the time! I also found it very intriguing in verse 6 that God told the Israelites that they would lend money to many nations but would NOT borrow from other nations. Hmmmm....wonder what kind of shape the United States would be in if we would have followed this concept? Let me also point out verse 11, which talks about being generous and giving to the poor in your land. How well of a job are we doing of this in our community? I know that Oak Hill does a lot of things for the needy in our community, but are we helping with this?
t this is also how long bad credit will stay on your credit report! The secular world does things that are dictated in the Bible and do not even realize it most of the time! I also found it very intriguing in verse 6 that God told the Israelites that they would lend money to many nations but would NOT borrow from other nations. Hmmmm....wonder what kind of shape the United States would be in if we would have followed this concept? Let me also point out verse 11, which talks about being generous and giving to the poor in your land. How well of a job are we doing of this in our community? I know that Oak Hill does a lot of things for the needy in our community, but are we helping with this?___________________________________________
Chapter 16 reviews the requirements for the Passover, the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The interesting part about these three events is that they all have to do with the Sabbath Law that was established in Deuteronomy 5:12. They all also required that these feasts occur in the central place of Jerusalem, which would mean a long pilgrimage for those who lived outside of Jerusalem. I wonder, are we willing to be "inconvenienced" for the Lord? Will we only do things to serve the Lord when it is easy and convenient for us?
Excellent post, Mindy. The part about "giving to the poor" related with me today in a new way. We went this morning to help with the "soup kitchen" for Rushton Hope to feed the hungry. My goodness were my eyes opened. There is so much need right here in Griffin, Ga - a whole other world out there with people who need a hope and a hand, and we ware so blessed to be a part of this with other members from Oak Hill today. Putting action to our faith that's what it is all about.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post Mindy. I could so relate to the post of money. Tithing is an obedient act of being faithful to God. Like you stated "all the money is His." He gives the money to us graciously." Money is an issue parents can be realistic in teaching their kids with success. Our kids can see us either struggle or succeed with the money given to us.
ReplyDeleteJust today I was in a store with my daughter and wanted to buy items(body pillows with polka dots) because they were "cute." But I resisted temptation because I wanted my daughter to see the lessons and values of money. The way we spend our money speaks volumes. Tithing is a way in which our children can see us being obedient to God's word.
I've started to notice more and more how our culture does things in a biblical fashion......just from tradition, not really knowing where the idea came from maybe? Interesting to think about. Thanks Mindy!
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