Robbing God - of What?

Malachi 3:8-9 gives us a sober warning,

"Will a man rob God?  Yet you have robbed Me!  But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?'  In tithes and offerings.  You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation."

Now if you think about this statement, you have to ask, "How do you rob God?  I mean, really, what does that mean?"

There are two ways we rob God when we refuse to tithe: 

1. We rob God of honor that is due Him.  In Proverbs 3:9 it says to, Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase.  By giving God the first part of our income, we are honoring Him as being first in our lives.  We demonstrate faith in His promise to supply our needs as well—and God is honored by our faith.

2. We rob God of the opportunity to bless us. In Malachi 3:10, God promises to bless us if we bring Him the first tenth of our income (the tithe).

The promise in Proverbs is that our barns will be filled with plenty if we will honor the Lord with our firstfruits (Proverbs 3:9-10).

He can bless us. He desires to bless us. Let us not rob Him of the opportunity to do so, nor of the honor that is due Him. 

~Bayless Conley~