The Blessing of Tithing
By Lt. Colonel Debra Ashcraft
Recently, the title of my morning devotion was “Hold Your Blessings with an Open Hand.” That sparked a memory of a lesson I learned back in Sunday school. The teacher was Mrs. Elva Doyle, a Holy Spirit–filled soldier of The Salvation Army Chillicothe, Ohio, Corps.
Mrs. Doyle reminded our class that God made everything, and that all things belong to Him. She proceeded to place 10 pennies on the table, then asked, “Boys and girls, who owns all these pennies?”
The entire class responded, “God does.”
She went on to teach us what the Bible says about honoring the Lord with our tithes and how farmers would give a tenth of the produce of the land and every tenth animal (referring to Leviticus 27:30–34).
“Who owns all 10 pennies?” Mrs. Doyle asked again.
With confidence the class responded, “God does!”
Then Mrs. Doyle moved one penny off to the side and said, “God owns all 10 pennies, and yet He asks only that we give Him one. God is so generous and so good.”
Mrs. Doyle repeated that lesson using 10 dimes and then with $1 bills. Over and over, our class acknowledged that God owns all, and over and over we heard Mrs. Doyle say, “God asks only for one-tenth. God is so generous and so good.”
Mrs. Doyle was no stranger to suffering, a widow who later experienced the painful loss of two sons and a daughter. She lived on very little income and had few material possessions. It must have been a step of faith for Mrs. Doyle to tithe.
Through her teaching and witness of faithful giving and joyful service, Mrs. Doyle inspired me to see tithing as a privilege and a blessing. Indeed, throughout my life as I have honored God with my tithe, I can testify that God is generous, and God is good. Are you enjoying the blessing of tithing? If not, you can start now.
May we hold our blessings with an open hand to our generous God.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” —Malachi 3:10
