Stewards

By not following God’s principles in handling resources that He provides, we can rob God of tithes and offerings. First, we must acknowledge that God is the owner of all things (Psalm 50:10-12). He created the heavens, the earth, and everything in them, and everything we have comes from His hand. Second, we must recognize that God has appointed His children to be stewards of His possessions. We are to use wisely what He has given us and return to Him a portion of what He’s entrusted to us (1 Cor. 16:1-2; 1 Tim. 6:17-18). When we give to the church and to the needy, we are giving to God. The Lord asks that we give Him the first part of all we earn (Proverbs 3:9-10), but not because He needs it – He already owns it, whether we give it to Him or not. Rather, we’re the ones who need to learn to rely on Him as our provider and respond with generosity, obedience, and gratitude for His kindness toward us.

Commentary from the In Touch devotional by Charles Stanley, June 3, 2021.

Dissent

“Your words against Me are harsh,” says the Lord.

Yet you ask: “What have we spoken against You?”

You have said: “It is useless to serve God.  What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?  So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate.  Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.”  Malachi 3:13-15

“For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble.  The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Hosts, “not leaving them root or branches.  But you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.  You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Hosts.  

Malachi 4:1-3