“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.”        ( Malachi 3:8)

If you want to open up your life to more abundant generosity (both flowing out and flowing into your life) keep reading.

The Story of a Generous Business Partner

A very wealthy man was walking on the road and he saw a beggar on the sidewalk. The rich man looked kindly on the beggar and asked, “How did you become a beggar? The beggar reply, ” Sir I’ve been applying for a job for a year now but haven’t found any. You look like a rich man. Sir, if you’ll give me a job, I’ll stop begging”. The rich man smiled and said, “I want to help you but I won’t give you a job. I’ll do something better. I want you to be my business partner. Let’s start a business together”. The beggar couldn’t believe what the rich man was saying. “What do you mean Sir?” The rich man replied “I own a rice plantation. You could sell my rice in the market. I’ll provide you the sacks of rice. I’ll pay the rent for the market stall. I’ll even give you a food allowance every day for the next 30 days. All you have to do is sell my rice. And at the end of the month, as business partners, we’ll share the profits.”

The beggar said, “Sir you’re a gift from heaven. You’re the answer to my prayers. Thank you so much”. Then he said ” Sir, how will we divide the profits? Do I keep the 10% and you get the 90%? Do I keep 5% and you get the 95%? I’ll be happy with any arrangement.” The rich man shook his head and said ” No I want you to give me the 10%. And keep the 90%.” The beggar couldn’t believe his ears. The deal was too preposterous. The rich man explained,” I don’t need the money, my friend. I’m already wealthy beyond what you can ever imagine. I want you to give me 10% of your profits so you grow in faithfulness and gratitude.” The beggar knelt down before his benefactor and said, ” I will do as you say. Even now, I’m so grateful for what you’ve done.”

He Forgets Where the Blessing Came From

The beggar now dressed a little bit better, operated a store selling rice in the market. He worked very hard. He woke up early in the morning and slept late at night. And sales were brisk, also because the rice was of good quality. After 30 days, the profits were astounding. At the end of the month, as the ex-beggar was counting money and liking very much the feeling of himself, ” Why should I give 10% to my business partner? I didn’t see him the whole month! I was the one who was working day and night for this business. I did all this work! I deserved 100% of the profits!”

A few minutes later, the rich man was knocking on the door to collect his 10% of the profits. The ex-beggar opened the door and said, “You don’t deserve the 10%. I worked hard for this. I deserve all of it”. And he slammed the door.

If you were his business partner, how would you feel? This is exactly what happens to us.

God Gave Us Everything

God is our Business Partner. And our business partner gave us everything. God gave us our life every single moment, every single breath, every single second. God gave us our talents our ability to talk, create, to earn money. God gave us our body our eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, and heart. God gave us our mind our imagination, emotions, reasoning, and language. But many of us don’t want to tithe. Because we feel we own everything we earn.

God tells us to give as the Spirit of God leads us to give. Giving 10% is the starting point of grateful giving. For someone who doesn’t know how to be generous yet but would like to learn. And as we learn to give 10%, God will teach us to give more generously.

Follow the Design of the Universe

For happiness, life, blessings, and abundance to flow into our life, we need to give faithfully.

The three bodies of water in Israel are all connected to each other. The first is the Sea of Galilee, The second is the Jordan River and the third is the Dead sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan river is filled with fish. But the Dead sea is called dead because there’s no living thing in it even some bacteria have a hard time living in it. Because it’s saltier than any ocean in the world. The difference between these three bodies of water the Sea of Galilee gives water to the Jordan River. The Jordan river gives water to the Dead sea. The Dead sea gives water to no one. All the water that it receives gets trapped and the only way the water escape it is through evaporation, leaving all the chemicals and salt in the Dead sea.

If we don’t give we die. The only way for blessings to flow into our life is if we give. This is the law of God’s universe. This is the nature works.