treasure

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do, says the Lord Almighty, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!”

– Malachi 3:10, NLT

 

Do you remember when you were a kid and someone dared you? It normally involved some sort of risk that, to a child, could be quite terrifying. But the hazard of being labeled a scaredy cat usually proved the less acceptable option, so you found your courage to perform the childish antic – eating a worm or some similar feat.

 

Let these childhood memories serve you well, because God dares us. In the writings of the Prophet Malachi, God tells his people to put his word to the test. This is the ancient equivalent of the modern “satisfaction guaranteed.” What is it, precisely, that the Almighty challenges us to do? He dares us to invest in his economy.

 

During this period, the people were ignoring God’s prescriptions for worship. The animals brought for sacrifice were blighted or diseased; the Temple was neglected and not properly maintained; the faithful were lax in funding the ecclesiastical system God had established. So God calls them to task. “If you don’t have the faith to take me at my word, then here is a risk-free trial. Bring a tenth of your income into my house to finance my work. Then watch as I throw open the floodgates of heaven to bless you.”

 

There is very real danger in the “prosperity gospel” which has become so popular in our consumer culture. But in the same breath, there is very real danger in becoming reactionary to it and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. To be sure, God is not some cosmic slot machine that we fill with quarters, expecting to hit the jackpot. Such a reading of Scripture misses the selfless sacrifice which is at the heart of the Gospel. And yet, the verses we find in Malachi are not atypical; time and again throughout the Bible we hear their theme echoed. Consider, for example, Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke:

 

If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving – large or small – it will be used to measure what is given back to you. (Luke 6:38, NLT)

 

The parable of the talents, reaping what you sow, laying down your life to find it in the end – these are all applications of a law of the Kingdom economy: God blesses those who are faithful with what they have been given. In other words, by using what I have to serve God and advance the Gospel, I demonstrate that he can entrust me with his resources. “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given” (Luke 19:26, NLT).

 

Friends, let us take God up on this dare. Let us stop living in fear and financial insecurity. Let us give to God our first and our best, with hearts full of faith and joy because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). And be assured of this: When we do, God will loose a torrent of blessings beyond our ability to contain them.