IT’S A TEST: ONLY A TEST!

I was watching the TV show True Beauty for the first time and the contestants are beautiful people—good to look at. They think they will win by their attractiveness, their sex appeal. But what they don’t realize in the challenges each week is—it was really about seeing if they possessed inner beauty—a matter of the heart. Unbeknownst to them eyes were watching and ears listening to their words. There were hidden tests in the challenge. Three teams of three were given $100 to buy outfits anyway they could wangle. At the same location there was a reputable organization on the street asking for donations and the judges wanted to see if they were too busy to notice. Some were charitable and some were not. One final test came for the man and woman facing elimination. One at a time they came to the building and a stunt man staged a bike accident and the question was—would they help him. You could see the woman judge rooting for the contestant saying…go and help him. The man helped, the woman, who thought she was very beautiful, did not offer assistance. She was sent home. They showed tapes of her behaviour during the show and it demonstrated how cold and self-centered she was and I shouldn’t have been surprised when she went away arguing that she was beautiful, but I was. She was truly blind to what shape her heart was in.

We in God’s Church are in a similar challenge except we know that eyes wander throughout the earth and our thoughts and actions are recorded in a book. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes. "…for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" (Jermiah32:19). Also in Proverbs 15:3 "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."

We also know that we have a helper, a comforter to help us through the rough and tough times. We need to realize that this life is a test—only a test—with markers along the way, situations that arise, strangers that cross our path, Sabbath days to respect, tithes to pay, where our honesty, integrity, love, concern for others is being tested and monitored by on High daily. Just like those three judges who were listening and watching and judging the actions of those attractive men and women contestants we also are being judged. We will not be eliminated unless we give up. Sometimes we fail, but we continue trying with God’s help.

Let’s take tithing as an example. How do we do when it comes to tithing…no one is standing over our shoulder…no one is really keeping track of the amount of money we earn. No one knows how much second tithe we save for the Feast. But we do! And God does! Does God need our tithes? Not really. It’s just another test of our obedience, our acknowledging and honouring our Creator. It’s an attitude of mind and heart.

"Malachi 3: 8-10 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

The word tithe comes from an Old English word meaning "tenth." Tithing, then, means merely the practice of "tenthing," or simply giving back to God 10 percent of one's increase (see Leviticus 27:32). Tithing is simply a form of giving, which is a godly practice (Matthew 19:21).

This fundamental premise is repeated in the Bible. "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1; compare Exodus 19:5; Job 41:11). The tithe is simply the divinely ordained degree to which He expects us to give back to honor Him and to acknowledge that He gives everything to us.

You argue you cannot afford to pay tithes…we live in the twenty-first century …it is impossible to pay tithes you say…we can hardly afford our mortgage payments, car payments, feed the kids. How can we begin to save second tithe… the drier goes or the car needs fixing, the kids need a coat? So I have a question for you …where does the God that you worship fit into all of this? He commands you to tithe…He commands you to save second tithe. He does not ask you for excuses why you cannot. You cannot make or expect your husband or wife to tithe if they are not a member…but what example are you setting when you also will not obey… It really is a test of your faith in your heavenly Father…someone you profess to worship.

Have you not read that without faith it is impossible to please Him. When we do His will, meaning…obeying his commandments. Then you will be blessed…when we learn how to obey we will be blessed…not monetarily necessarily or that our lives will be on easy street. But He also states that where your treasure is that is where your heart is… Can you afford to be flippant about obeying God…and blame it on the difficult times we live in, or the cost of living?

"The first account in the Bible of this ancient practice of giving is found in Genesis 14:18-22. Abraham, after his defeat of four kings, tithed on the spoils of the war to Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High. Abraham obviously understood that tithing was an appropriate way of honoring God with one's physical possessions.

This example shows several important principles we can apply today. Abraham, whose exemplary life of service and obedience to God caused God to describe him as the father of the faithful (Romans 4:11), was not compelled to tithe. He gave willingly and voluntarily as an act of great humility. He showed respect and reverence for God, and to Melchizedek, who was both "king of Salem" and "priest of the Most High God" (Hebrews 7:1). Jesus Christ, the King of all the universe, serves in this royal and priestly office today (Hebrews 6:20), and to tithe is to show Him appropriate honor.

This example also demonstrates Abraham's enormous personal integrity and character. He chose to keep his promise to God rather than give in to the temptation to use the spoils of his victory for himself (Genesis 14:22-23). Abraham understood the premise for giving a tithe to God: He is Possessor of heaven and earth (verse 19). Abraham recognized that he was blessed by God Most High, who made his victory and all his blessings possible. (What Does The Bible Teach About Tithing Booklet UCG.org) So the test is not how beautiful we are according to the world’s standards…it is a matter of the heart. For the contestants it was a physical elimination—for us eternal life is the goal.