96. THE TITHE AND DEBT.
By S. T. H. B.
If I owed a debt, would my tithes and offerings be accepted till the debt was paid? Or does God's own belong to him always? and should it be paid to him before man's debts are paid? These are questions which frequently arise. First of all does the tithe belong to the Lord? Lev. 27: 30-33; Mal. 3: 8-10; Matt. 23: 23, and other scriptures seem positively to prove that the tithe is the Lord's. Secondly, to whom should our first and best service and gifts be rendered? Matt. 22: 37, 38; Prov. 3: 9, 10, and many other passages of Holy Writ expressly declare that the first and best of ourselves and our possessions should be rendered to God. And this is reasonable, because all that we have, "life, and breath, and all things," come from God. Acts 17: 25. Again, not only by creation, but by redemption, we are not our own; God has bought us with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 6: 20; 1 Peter 1: 18, 19. We are but stewards of what God has given us and stewards should be faithful. Although all of our time belongs to God, he specifically demands but one day in seven, namely, the seventh. Although all our means belongs to God, he specifically demands but one-tenth. He asks neither the one nor the other because he needs one or both, nor arbitrarily to exact of us a certain amount of what is in our possession, but to develop in us honesty and integrity of heart and faith in the great God and Father of all. Therefore, if we recognize the truths stated in the Scriptures referred to above, we will render to God all that he claims as his own. Does he in his providence place in our hands one dollar, one-tenth of it belongs to God. "But I owe that dollar to someone else." No; you owe ninety cents of that dollar; one-tenth is the Lord's. If we were working a ranch, vineyard, or farm "on shares," for one-half, and the proceeds of the whole should amount to $4,000, and we should owe just that sum to our neighbor, would we be justified in paying that whole sum?—No, we would say at once, $2,000 of that does not belong to us, but to the owner of the ranch. Of the $4,000 I can only owe one-half, because only one-half of that belongs to me. Therefore, of what God gives us we can only owe nine-tenths, because only nine-tenths of it belongs to us; and if we use that which does not belong to us for our own purposes, are we not robbing God? The above presents somewhat of the moral aspect. There is another phase and that is the privilege of doing just what God says, that he may fulfill to us just what he has promised in Prov. 3: 9, 10 and Mal. 3: 10. But God's promises are not for those who pay tithes or keep the Sabbath because it pays financially or commercially so to do, but because of faithful love to God and simple faith in his precious promises. All the world is his; can he not bring us all blessings? Will not nine-tenths be better with God's blessing than ten-tenths without his blessing? Is it not worth while to trust God? Let us not say, "It is vain to serve God" (Mal. 3: 14), but let us be among those who shall reap of his blessings, and be found among his jewels.