In Your Bible Read This Out Loud: Leviticus 27:30 

Memorise This Verse: Malachi 3:10 'Bring the whole tithe into the  storehouse' 

Afterwards Talk About This:  What are the implications of Leviticus 27:30 showing that the tithe belongs to, and is set apart to God. 

Something To Do Before Next Time:  Start up a record of all your in goings and outgoings so that you can fully monitor how you handle your money.   

Written Diploma Work:  Write one side on why God accuses the non-tither of robbing him. 

Meditate Word By Word On This Verse:  Matthew 23:23

Tithing is giving 10% of all our income back to God and it would appear to be the minimum that God is calling us to however, the bible gives some insights into what the tithe actually means to God and how we are ourselves should view it. Once we have a clear understanding about what the tithe represents and how God views the tithe then we should have no hesitation or doubts or fears about tithing and it should be our good pleasure to do so.

The first point regarding the tithe is that it is not a case of us giving God our money, but more a case of us returning to God his money :- the tithe is returned to it's rightful owner. We have already seen that all the money in the world belongs to God, and the money that is in our possession, we are merely stewards of. By tithing on all our income we return to God that which was already his in the first place.

The second point regarding tithing is that God views our tithe as being of great value and very special in his sight such that he takes great pleasure when we return our tithes to him. The tithe should be something that we set apart and regard as holy, special and precious and we should take great care to ensure that we pay our tithes since the act of tithing is of great value to God.

Leviticus 27:30 says, ' A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord it is Holy to the Lord' notice how the Lord himself declares that the tithe belongs to him and is holy and set apart unto him.

Many parents will set apart money to pay for their children's birthday and Christmas presents and view this money as being special as they want to spend it on the people they love the most and want to bring something of value to them.

In the same way we should be even more diligent to set apart our tithes to the Lord and regard this money as being holy and sacred unto God. God is deeply interested in our tithes not because he needs our money but when we do tithe he takes great delight in our obedience.

Through tithing God has given us the ability to bring a precious and special gift back to him and we should view our tithes as being God's holy property.

So what are the implications of the facts that the tithe is returned and should be set apart unto God if we decide not to tithe? Well, the reality is that if we do not tithe we withhold something that is of great value to God and actually belongs to God, and hence since we hold onto something that doesn't belong to us, we rob God of his property.

This serious truth is something that the Lord himself speaks of in Malachi 3:1 'Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' – in tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me'.

Clearly you can't rob someone of something that doesn't belong to them when God says we are robbing him through tithing it shows that the tithe belongs to him.

The implications of the fact that a non-tither is robbing God are too big to grasp but consider the following scenarios. Perhaps you have been a Christian for many years and claim to know and love God yet all this time you have not been tithing – the implications are that the God you claim to love you have been robbing from week in and week out for years.

Perhaps you have been faithfully attending a church and been instructed in the word of God by your Pastor for many years and yet all this time your Pastor has not been tithing. That means that you have given up your time and petrol money to listen to someone instruct you how to have a deeper relationship with God, yet he himself is week in, week out, robbing God.

In light of the above how do view your tithes? if we view our tithes correctly they will be precious, special, holy and set apart unto the Lord and by returning them to him we bestow upon him something of great value in his sight.

We should take the responsibility to tithe very seriously and we must very carefully ensure that we are diligent and accurate in our tithing we must set apart and treat our tithes as God's holy property, as God himself holds it in high estimation.

God has declared for us in Malachi 3:10 that the non-tither is robbing him unless you want God Almighty to call you a thief on judgment day, you must be a tither.