“And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.” -Deuteronomy 26:11
God gives Israel instructions on tithing. All this responsive sacrifice and baskets of first fruit may seem weird to us now, but it actually has a Gospel application. For those of us in Christ, we can be generous in ways that Israel could never fully grasp.
We don't have hard and fast guidelines on numbers or portions because now in the New Testament, giving is more whole-life oriented and sacrificial. It is a generosity that those around you might consider “painful.” But our hope is not in the giving; our hope is in the good that the Lord has given to you.
For Israel, this was a land that was promised. For those of us in Christ, this is salvation, transformation, and a future grace that we can't even fully imagine. It is from the reality of these gifts that we have a repositioned generosity. We can give—not in order to receive something, but because we already have been given more than we could ever imagine. Giving from the grace of God is such a sweet thing.
It reveals the place of our hope, our trust, and our joy. Because you are who Jesus says you are today, you can join in and rejoice in all the Lord has done.
Today, might you be generous in new ways? Be reminded of all that you have in Jesus. He really is our everything. Then rejoice!