Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. — Malachi 3:8
Robbery is something that we are all familiar with. Many of us have experienced the unfortunate circumstance of being robbed. Perhaps it was your house that was robbed, maybe your place of work, or even someone that you were close to. It was not so long ago that our neighbors had an experience with being robbed as someone broke into their cars in the middle of the night.
But have you ever considered that you might be a robber yourself? The idea of that seems somewhat far-fetched to most Christians. After all, we all say that we are living a changed life after accepting Jesus Christ. We are instructed by scripture to live morally, and ethically, and to share the love of Christ with the world. Yet so many times, we as Christians are actually robbers.
I’m not meaning that you actually went to someone here in life and stole items from them. I’m referring to robbing God. Here in Malachi, the verse shares word from God to the people about how they had robbed Him. Specifically, the people had withheld tithes and offerings. While many will argue that this verse deals with only the financial application, there is obviously a much deeper application that we can take.
To rob from God is not only to withhold from Him financially but in anything that God is due. God has blessed each of us greatly in so many ways. He has given us talents and abilities that we can all use for Him in so many different ways. Yet, we often find ourselves in positions where we have the opportunity to do something and we fail to do so. Maybe it’s giving to the church or the needy or something as simple as an encouraging word or deed.
Maybe we haven’t physically robbed someone, but are we guilty of robbing God? Are we withholding things from God that He deserves from us? God is looking for us to live our lives in a way that we give to Him that which He deserves. We must use all of the things that He has blessed us with in life for His service, no matter what they are.
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