Bible Reflections
The following short articles look at what the Bible has to say about the following topics:
| An overview of the Bible | |
| The blessings of being a Christian | |
| Heavenly Rewards | |
| Giving |
God's Plan for Mankind - an overview of the Bible |
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One person's view on the dozen most important events in the history of the world, as described in the Bible. Events which also help put the rest of the Bible into context.
1. Creation
Genesis 1:26 & 1:31. The Bible answers the crucial question, why did God create the world? - so that he could put people in it, who were made in his image and who he could therefore have a relationship with. And He made it good, so that they could also enjoy the world in which they lived. But unfortunately it didn't stay good for long.
2. The Fall
Genesis 2:16-17 & 3:6. Genesis 3 describes how sin entered the world through Adam & Eve's disobedience, and how it ruined God's relationship with them. And all of us have inherited a tendency towards that same self-centredness and sin. We cannot help it and it spoils our relationship with God also.
What did God do about it? Well, nothing much initially. He waited to see how men would respond to him first, and while a few honoured and obeyed him, most did not. Sin increased and God tried to use the flood to start again and see if that would help matters, but it did not.
3. Father to a nation
Genesis 12:1-3. So God embarked on a plan to restore mankind's relationship with him. And he started by calling one man, Abram, to found a new nation, Israel, (v2) and to be such a guiding light to it, that it would keep close to God, and be a means by which other nations were also drawn back to God (v3) by seeing how he blessed Israel.
For a time this worked well. Genesis is full of God's involvement with, and his blessing of Abram (renamed Abraham by God), his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. But unfortunately as time goes on, and the descendants multiply, they lose some of their faith in God and their closeness to him, and also his blessing on their lives. So God embarks on a new phase in his plan.
4. The Law
Sooner or later he knows they will get into trouble and need his help. Their trouble turns out to be slavery in Egypt, and when the people cry out to God he rescues them in a very dramatic fashion (through Moses, the 10 plagues, the Red Sea crossing & numerous other miracles). This dramatic rescue renews the people's faith in God, and makes them willing to enter into a new relationship with him through the Law that he now gives them (c. 1280 BC).
This was actually a backward step, for the Law came with all sorts of burdens & rituals, and the necessity of priests to intercede between man & God. Previously God had talked to men & women directly, but now he would usually talk through the priests. But it was a necessary step, because the rituals & laws gave people practical things to remind them of God, and the priests were able to speak to people about God and remind them verbally about him. (Previously, without these reminders, the large majority of the people had just forgotten about God). Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy describe this period. And again, it worked for a while, but then it ran into a problem.
5. Kings
1 Samuel 8:5-7. The people didn't like just having religious leaders, and God as their nominal king. They wanted a human king like other nations. This proved to be a very slippery slope, for if the king was godly, then he led the nation to be godly and blessed by God. But if he was ungodly, the people became more ungodly, and less blessed by God.
The books of Samuel describe the good start that was made under the kings, and Psalms and Proverbs were also written at this prosperous time. But the books of Kings and Chronicles describe how over time the kings and the nation became more and more ungodly. As the established religious leaders had little influence, God raised up prophets instead to speak his words to the nation. Books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos & Micah all come from this time, and attempt to call a disobedient people back to the God they were neglecting. But they had little success, and without God's blessing, the nation eventually came to a crisis point.
6. Exile
2 Kings 25:21. By 587 BC, the Assyrians and Babylonians had overrun the country and exiled a lot of the people. This stunned the nation, who had thought that God would always protect them. At the end of 70 years of exile, a new generation had arisen that realised that they had been defeated because of their protracted neglect of God and their disobedience to him (and they realised this had started when they had intermarried with other nations and had compromised their faith with those of their new spouses). Esther, Ezekiel and Daniel all come from this time in exile.
7. Return
God had known that the exile, yet another backward step, was in the end the only way that he could bring the nation back to him. And when the people were ready he raised up men like Ezra and Nehemiah, to bring the people back to Israel, and to rebuild the physical and spiritual heart of the nation.
Again, it started well, but gradually ran into problems. The new desire to be fully committed to God (and separate from other nations), become focused on a commitment to the external religious laws and rituals, rather than the internal relationship with God, that those things were supposed to point people to. Again the people became quite distant from God, but God seems to accept this, for after the books of Zechariah and Haggai he raises up no prophets to call people back to him this time. There follow over 4 centuries of silence from God, but the important thing from his point of view seems to be just that the people keep some sort of faith alive until the time was right for the final phase of his plan.
8. Jesus
There were a number of elements in this part of God's plan. First, God sent his own son to be born as one of us. He was able to both tell us more and show us more about what God is really like. He was able to give us an exciting person to follow, rather than a dull set of rules and laws. And his life and teaching helped shape a completely different world.
9. The Cross
Ephesians 1:7. Secondly, Jesus also came to earth to provide a permanent way to deal with the persistent problem of sin. And that happened on the cross, when God put all our sins and the punishment we deserved on him. That gave a foundation for people to have a closer relationship with God again, without sin getting in the way so much.
10. The Resurrection
Thirdly, when Jesus rose from the dead, God revealed something that people had not been sure of before - that there was life after death, and it promised to be glorious. The resurrection also meant, that when we have a relationship with God, it includes a relationship with Jesus, our Saviour, whose life and words have been handed down through the generations to help us. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John all cover Jesus' life death and resurrection.
11. The Holy Spirit
John 14:26. Fourthly, the Holy Spirit is the one who comes into our hearts and makes that relationship with God personal. He enables us to be with Jesus, and to feel his love and to hear him speaking to us. The Holy Spirit also works in us, to change us and enable us to have an even closer and more fulfilling relationship with God. And the book of Acts and all the New Testament letters talk about living out this renewed relationship with God.
12. Re-creation
Revelation 21:1-4. But even though our relationship with God has been renewed it is not perfect. Sin and lack of understanding still get in the way. God wants to get back to the perfect relationship that he created in the beginning. And so he has promised that one day he will re-create everything to do that. And the only reason God doesn't do that now, is because he wants as many as possible to believe in Jesus in the meantime and so enter into this perfect relationship with him. The book of Revelation describes the end of this world and the re-creation of the next.
Conclusion
Apart from the very beginning and the very end, the Bible is all about God's rescue of a fallen mankind, and his plan to restore the perfect relationship that he wants with us (and how he doesn't mind using backwards steps to work out that plan). If we want to serve him, the prime way to do that is by helping to save the lost, and also by building up our own relationship with God, and other people's relationship with him as well.
The Old Testament is very useful for giving us examples of how we sin and how God reacts to that. It is not so good at giving us rules to follow (or promises to believe in), for many relate to stages in God's plan that have now been superseded. So whenever you see commands or promises in the Old Testament, always make sure they are also echoed in the New Testament before acting on them.
1. Creation
Genesis 1:26 & 1:31. The Bible answers the crucial question, why did God create the world? - so that he could put people in it, who were made in his image and who he could therefore have a relationship with. And He made it good, so that they could also enjoy the world in which they lived. But unfortunately it didn't stay good for long.
2. The Fall
Genesis 2:16-17 & 3:6. Genesis 3 describes how sin entered the world through Adam & Eve's disobedience, and how it ruined God's relationship with them. And all of us have inherited a tendency towards that same self-centredness and sin. We cannot help it and it spoils our relationship with God also.
What did God do about it? Well, nothing much initially. He waited to see how men would respond to him first, and while a few honoured and obeyed him, most did not. Sin increased and God tried to use the flood to start again and see if that would help matters, but it did not.
3. Father to a nation
Genesis 12:1-3. So God embarked on a plan to restore mankind's relationship with him. And he started by calling one man, Abram, to found a new nation, Israel, (v2) and to be such a guiding light to it, that it would keep close to God, and be a means by which other nations were also drawn back to God (v3) by seeing how he blessed Israel.
For a time this worked well. Genesis is full of God's involvement with, and his blessing of Abram (renamed Abraham by God), his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. But unfortunately as time goes on, and the descendants multiply, they lose some of their faith in God and their closeness to him, and also his blessing on their lives. So God embarks on a new phase in his plan.
4. The Law
Sooner or later he knows they will get into trouble and need his help. Their trouble turns out to be slavery in Egypt, and when the people cry out to God he rescues them in a very dramatic fashion (through Moses, the 10 plagues, the Red Sea crossing & numerous other miracles). This dramatic rescue renews the people's faith in God, and makes them willing to enter into a new relationship with him through the Law that he now gives them (c. 1280 BC).
This was actually a backward step, for the Law came with all sorts of burdens & rituals, and the necessity of priests to intercede between man & God. Previously God had talked to men & women directly, but now he would usually talk through the priests. But it was a necessary step, because the rituals & laws gave people practical things to remind them of God, and the priests were able to speak to people about God and remind them verbally about him. (Previously, without these reminders, the large majority of the people had just forgotten about God). Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy describe this period. And again, it worked for a while, but then it ran into a problem.
5. Kings
1 Samuel 8:5-7. The people didn't like just having religious leaders, and God as their nominal king. They wanted a human king like other nations. This proved to be a very slippery slope, for if the king was godly, then he led the nation to be godly and blessed by God. But if he was ungodly, the people became more ungodly, and less blessed by God.
The books of Samuel describe the good start that was made under the kings, and Psalms and Proverbs were also written at this prosperous time. But the books of Kings and Chronicles describe how over time the kings and the nation became more and more ungodly. As the established religious leaders had little influence, God raised up prophets instead to speak his words to the nation. Books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos & Micah all come from this time, and attempt to call a disobedient people back to the God they were neglecting. But they had little success, and without God's blessing, the nation eventually came to a crisis point.
6. Exile
2 Kings 25:21. By 587 BC, the Assyrians and Babylonians had overrun the country and exiled a lot of the people. This stunned the nation, who had thought that God would always protect them. At the end of 70 years of exile, a new generation had arisen that realised that they had been defeated because of their protracted neglect of God and their disobedience to him (and they realised this had started when they had intermarried with other nations and had compromised their faith with those of their new spouses). Esther, Ezekiel and Daniel all come from this time in exile.
7. Return
God had known that the exile, yet another backward step, was in the end the only way that he could bring the nation back to him. And when the people were ready he raised up men like Ezra and Nehemiah, to bring the people back to Israel, and to rebuild the physical and spiritual heart of the nation.
Again, it started well, but gradually ran into problems. The new desire to be fully committed to God (and separate from other nations), become focused on a commitment to the external religious laws and rituals, rather than the internal relationship with God, that those things were supposed to point people to. Again the people became quite distant from God, but God seems to accept this, for after the books of Zechariah and Haggai he raises up no prophets to call people back to him this time. There follow over 4 centuries of silence from God, but the important thing from his point of view seems to be just that the people keep some sort of faith alive until the time was right for the final phase of his plan.
8. Jesus
There were a number of elements in this part of God's plan. First, God sent his own son to be born as one of us. He was able to both tell us more and show us more about what God is really like. He was able to give us an exciting person to follow, rather than a dull set of rules and laws. And his life and teaching helped shape a completely different world.
9. The Cross
Ephesians 1:7. Secondly, Jesus also came to earth to provide a permanent way to deal with the persistent problem of sin. And that happened on the cross, when God put all our sins and the punishment we deserved on him. That gave a foundation for people to have a closer relationship with God again, without sin getting in the way so much.
10. The Resurrection
Thirdly, when Jesus rose from the dead, God revealed something that people had not been sure of before - that there was life after death, and it promised to be glorious. The resurrection also meant, that when we have a relationship with God, it includes a relationship with Jesus, our Saviour, whose life and words have been handed down through the generations to help us. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John all cover Jesus' life death and resurrection.
11. The Holy Spirit
John 14:26. Fourthly, the Holy Spirit is the one who comes into our hearts and makes that relationship with God personal. He enables us to be with Jesus, and to feel his love and to hear him speaking to us. The Holy Spirit also works in us, to change us and enable us to have an even closer and more fulfilling relationship with God. And the book of Acts and all the New Testament letters talk about living out this renewed relationship with God.
12. Re-creation
Revelation 21:1-4. But even though our relationship with God has been renewed it is not perfect. Sin and lack of understanding still get in the way. God wants to get back to the perfect relationship that he created in the beginning. And so he has promised that one day he will re-create everything to do that. And the only reason God doesn't do that now, is because he wants as many as possible to believe in Jesus in the meantime and so enter into this perfect relationship with him. The book of Revelation describes the end of this world and the re-creation of the next.
Conclusion
Apart from the very beginning and the very end, the Bible is all about God's rescue of a fallen mankind, and his plan to restore the perfect relationship that he wants with us (and how he doesn't mind using backwards steps to work out that plan). If we want to serve him, the prime way to do that is by helping to save the lost, and also by building up our own relationship with God, and other people's relationship with him as well.
The Old Testament is very useful for giving us examples of how we sin and how God reacts to that. It is not so good at giving us rules to follow (or promises to believe in), for many relate to stages in God's plan that have now been superseded. So whenever you see commands or promises in the Old Testament, always make sure they are also echoed in the New Testament before acting on them.
The following blessings are all listed in the New Testament letters:
- Saved out of the corruption of the world and God's judgement upon it.
- Redeemed & rescued from slavery to sin, the punishment of our sins and death.
- Righteousness - continually purified and made right with God (and justified).
- Fellowship with God - confidence to enter the Most Holy Place & be with God there.
- Sanctified - hallowed, purified, consecrated - destined for holiness.
- Securely destined for glory - revered, loved and adored. Citizens of heaven now.
- Nothing can separate us from God or from our salvation in Christ.
- Jesus is our high priest - who sacrificed himself (once for all) to save us, cleanse our consciences & makes us perfect, and he intercedes for us continually.
- Become part of Christ's body - united with him, living in him, being built up in him & fullness in him in some spiritual way.
- Being transformed into Jesus' likeness with ever-increasing glory.
- Our "I" has been crucified with Christ so that Christ can live in us & we can live by faith in him.
- Become God's temple and received the Holy Spirit to live in us, help us & to walk in step with him.
- Received part of the mind of Christ - God's past knowledge, present thoughts & future designs.
- General knowledge and wisdom - about God, man, good, evil etc.
- Chosen by God - he loves us, sought us out, saved us and adopted us into his family.
- Sons and heirs of God - entitled to share God's position, rights, riches, responsibilities etc.
- Part of a royal priesthood - i.e. kings who rule & priests who minister to God & others.
- Brothers and sisters with all other Christians.
- Fellowship & unity with other Christians (being one in spirit & purpose).
- Freed from status - equal with all others before God.
- Freedom from law.
- Grace - undeserved favour.
- Peace - perfect peace.
- God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (at times) & everything we need for life & godliness.
- Help (at times) - strength, endurance, patience, joy, hope, protection, provision, comfort, encouragement, rescue, power, favour, mercy, light, understanding.
- Spiritual gifts - given by the Holy Spirit for the common good.
- Spiritual fruits - good characteristics that grow through living in the Spirit.
- Spiritual blessings - in the heavenly realms (where we are now "spiritually" seated).
- New birth and a completely new nature to help us follow Jesus and live a new life in him.
- A God to live for, recreated to do good works and an example to follow in Jesus.
- We can bring pleasure to God and glorify him.
- Labour in the Lord (working with him & for a purpose) is not in vain.
- We are ambassadors for Christ.
- God will accomplish things through us.
- God will bring good out of all things - even the bad things that happen to us.
- Eternal life in heaven - and rewards there for our service to God on earth.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12)
One of the most striking things about these verses is the very direct way in which Jesus talks about rewards here.
If you just saw these two verses on their own, you might think that they were saying: heaven is such a great place that its joys will outweigh all the troubles of this world, and therefore you should still be able to feel joyful at this future hope, no matter how badly you are treated by others in this life.
But these verses come at the end of the Beatitudes, in which Jesus repeatedly says: if you fall into such and such category, then you will get such and such a reward (the meek will inherit the earth, the merciful will be shown mercy and so on).
Therefore, in this context, these verses must mean: if you are insulted, persecuted or slandered because of your faith, then you will get a reward in heaven because of that.
None of the other Beatitudes have such a clear statement of the idea of a heavenly reward. Nor do they have such a clear division between those who will get this reward and those who will not. All of us might expect to have some meekness, and to show some mercy, for example, but very few of us will truly be persecuted. Therefore it seems logical to conclude that those Christians who are persecuted will get some kind of reward that most of us will miss out on.
Sometimes when Jesus talks about rewards, it is possible to interpret them as earthly rewards, given mostly as spiritual compensations to those who endure physical hardship for God's sake in this life. But if you look carefully it becomes apparent that not all the rewards Jesus talked about were like this. For example, he talks several times very specifically about storing up treasure in heaven (see Matt 6 v20, Mark 10 v21, Luke 12:32-33 & Luke 14:14). There are also some less obvious occasions, such as in the parable of the Talents, where it makes more sense to interpret the rewards given to the faithful servants as heavenly rewards.
Paul too makes a distinction between just being saved at the Day of Judgement, and rewards that may or may not be given after that i.e. in heaven (see 1 Cor 3 v13-14).
Clearly then, there are a number of heavenly rewards, which some people will get and which others will not. There may even be rewards for everything that we do for God. In one place Jesus even talks about a reward for giving someone a cup of water for his sake (Mark 9 v41).
It almost goes without saying that heavenly rewards are not to be sought for their own sake. That would be a self-centred desire and a sin. And whatever we did to try and earn such rewards would in all likelihood have the very opposite affect.
However Jesus and Paul both talk about heavenly rewards as an encouragement to persevere even when things are difficult. So although we shouldn't start doing something to gain a reward, we are probably allowed to use the thought of a reward to help keep us going when we may be tempted to give up.
The idea of rewards in heaven should also be a cause of joy for us. Whatever our lot in this life, we can always do things that will please God, and for which we are likely to receive some kind of reward in this life or in heaven. We always have much to look forward to.
One of the most striking things about these verses is the very direct way in which Jesus talks about rewards here.
If you just saw these two verses on their own, you might think that they were saying: heaven is such a great place that its joys will outweigh all the troubles of this world, and therefore you should still be able to feel joyful at this future hope, no matter how badly you are treated by others in this life.
But these verses come at the end of the Beatitudes, in which Jesus repeatedly says: if you fall into such and such category, then you will get such and such a reward (the meek will inherit the earth, the merciful will be shown mercy and so on).
Therefore, in this context, these verses must mean: if you are insulted, persecuted or slandered because of your faith, then you will get a reward in heaven because of that.
None of the other Beatitudes have such a clear statement of the idea of a heavenly reward. Nor do they have such a clear division between those who will get this reward and those who will not. All of us might expect to have some meekness, and to show some mercy, for example, but very few of us will truly be persecuted. Therefore it seems logical to conclude that those Christians who are persecuted will get some kind of reward that most of us will miss out on.
Sometimes when Jesus talks about rewards, it is possible to interpret them as earthly rewards, given mostly as spiritual compensations to those who endure physical hardship for God's sake in this life. But if you look carefully it becomes apparent that not all the rewards Jesus talked about were like this. For example, he talks several times very specifically about storing up treasure in heaven (see Matt 6 v20, Mark 10 v21, Luke 12:32-33 & Luke 14:14). There are also some less obvious occasions, such as in the parable of the Talents, where it makes more sense to interpret the rewards given to the faithful servants as heavenly rewards.
Paul too makes a distinction between just being saved at the Day of Judgement, and rewards that may or may not be given after that i.e. in heaven (see 1 Cor 3 v13-14).
Clearly then, there are a number of heavenly rewards, which some people will get and which others will not. There may even be rewards for everything that we do for God. In one place Jesus even talks about a reward for giving someone a cup of water for his sake (Mark 9 v41).
It almost goes without saying that heavenly rewards are not to be sought for their own sake. That would be a self-centred desire and a sin. And whatever we did to try and earn such rewards would in all likelihood have the very opposite affect.
However Jesus and Paul both talk about heavenly rewards as an encouragement to persevere even when things are difficult. So although we shouldn't start doing something to gain a reward, we are probably allowed to use the thought of a reward to help keep us going when we may be tempted to give up.
The idea of rewards in heaven should also be a cause of joy for us. Whatever our lot in this life, we can always do things that will please God, and for which we are likely to receive some kind of reward in this life or in heaven. We always have much to look forward to.
Old Testament
The Israelites were to recognise that everything they had came from God, and that God expected them to give him back part of what he had first given them. This included:
Some of this was burnt on the altar to God, but most of it was given to God's representatives, the Levites. This acted effectively as wages for their ministry, so that they could concentrate on serving God and the people. Some of the tithe was also eaten in a joint celebration involving the giver and the Levites, and some of the tithe was also given to foreigners and the poor to eat.
On top of this the people were generally to help each other out when they were in difficulty, especially their families, and to love their neighbours as themselves. God would bless those who were generous to others, and if the Israelites gave back to God all that he had asked of them, then he promised to bless them abundantly, giving them far more than they had given to him, and far more than they would ever need.
(Lev 19 v9-10 & v18; Lev 25 v25; Lev 26 v3-10; Lev 27 v30; Num ch 18 v21-32; Deut 12 v17-19 & 14 v22-29; Neh 12 v44; Mal 3 v8-10)
New Testament
Jesus acknowledges the legitimacy of tithing for the Jews. But initially for Christians there were no formal church buildings or ministry that needed finance, so tithing is not otherwise mentioned. Instead people were encouraged to set aside a sum every week in accordance with their income and save it up until some need in the local or wider fellowship of believers arose which they felt it was right to give to.
Christians are encouraged to supply those in need when they have plenty, and excel in the grace of giving. They are to give cheerfully, according to what they have decided before God, not reluctantly or under compulsion. Whoever sows generously will reap generously. They were also encouraged to be rich in good deeds, generous & willing to share.
The love of money is described as a root of all kinds of evil. Christians are urged not to concern themselves with food or clothes, but to seek God's kingdom first. Jesus particularly commends the widow who gave all she had to live on, even though it was only two small copper coins.
(Matt 6 v1-4, 25-34; Matt 21 v22; Mark 12 v41-44; Acts 2 v44-45, Acts 4 v32-35, 1 Cor 16 v2; 2 Cor 8 v7 & 14; 2 Cor 9 v6-8, 1 Tim 6 v10)
Conclusion: Many Christians have found tithing (giving a tenth of your income away) feels right before the Lord. It helps encourage the right attitude towards money, and it seems to fit well with God's method of financing his ministry in the Old Testament. The amount you give is between you and God, but regularity is certainly encouraged and God promises to bless those who are generous, many times over. You cannot out-give God. The more you give to God, and the more you die to self, then the more blessings and gifts that God can give to you in return.
The Israelites were to recognise that everything they had came from God, and that God expected them to give him back part of what he had first given them. This included:
- a tithe (a tenth) of what was produced from the land every year belonged to God
- the first-fruits of the land also belonged to God
- the people were also expected to give additional freewill offerings to God as they were so moved, out of love for God and thanks for what he had done for them
Some of this was burnt on the altar to God, but most of it was given to God's representatives, the Levites. This acted effectively as wages for their ministry, so that they could concentrate on serving God and the people. Some of the tithe was also eaten in a joint celebration involving the giver and the Levites, and some of the tithe was also given to foreigners and the poor to eat.
On top of this the people were generally to help each other out when they were in difficulty, especially their families, and to love their neighbours as themselves. God would bless those who were generous to others, and if the Israelites gave back to God all that he had asked of them, then he promised to bless them abundantly, giving them far more than they had given to him, and far more than they would ever need.
(Lev 19 v9-10 & v18; Lev 25 v25; Lev 26 v3-10; Lev 27 v30; Num ch 18 v21-32; Deut 12 v17-19 & 14 v22-29; Neh 12 v44; Mal 3 v8-10)
New Testament
Jesus acknowledges the legitimacy of tithing for the Jews. But initially for Christians there were no formal church buildings or ministry that needed finance, so tithing is not otherwise mentioned. Instead people were encouraged to set aside a sum every week in accordance with their income and save it up until some need in the local or wider fellowship of believers arose which they felt it was right to give to.
Christians are encouraged to supply those in need when they have plenty, and excel in the grace of giving. They are to give cheerfully, according to what they have decided before God, not reluctantly or under compulsion. Whoever sows generously will reap generously. They were also encouraged to be rich in good deeds, generous & willing to share.
The love of money is described as a root of all kinds of evil. Christians are urged not to concern themselves with food or clothes, but to seek God's kingdom first. Jesus particularly commends the widow who gave all she had to live on, even though it was only two small copper coins.
(Matt 6 v1-4, 25-34; Matt 21 v22; Mark 12 v41-44; Acts 2 v44-45, Acts 4 v32-35, 1 Cor 16 v2; 2 Cor 8 v7 & 14; 2 Cor 9 v6-8, 1 Tim 6 v10)
Conclusion: Many Christians have found tithing (giving a tenth of your income away) feels right before the Lord. It helps encourage the right attitude towards money, and it seems to fit well with God's method of financing his ministry in the Old Testament. The amount you give is between you and God, but regularity is certainly encouraged and God promises to bless those who are generous, many times over. You cannot out-give God. The more you give to God, and the more you die to self, then the more blessings and gifts that God can give to you in return.
