Blessed by the Lord’s Offering – The First Commandment

Blessed by the Lord’s Offering

The First Commandment

No other gods

Deuteronomy 14:22, 23

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.”

Part of the Lord’s tithe was to go to the support of the priests and the Levites. Part of it was to be consumed in this feast, so that even in our tithes to the Lord He can be seen to be caring for us.

Even today people benefit from the offerings they bring to their churches—facilities, staff, resources, and so forth all depend on the giving of the Lord’s people. We should not feel bad about the fact that we “spend the Lord’s money on ourselves,” as long as we are not neglecting the purpose of the church and her ministry.

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.