You Can’t Out Give God (Malachi 3:10)

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 NIV

My wife and I were at a coaching conference for one of our businesses last week. A speaker surprised me, and challenged us to reconsider generosity.

We have tithed ever since our first paychecks as a married couple in 2008, giving 10% to our church plus supporting a few other nonprofits.

Then, the speaker threw a haymaker: “Why do you only tithe on your take home pay? Why not ask God to bless it ALL and tithe on your gross?”

Honestly, I tried to ignore the tug on my heart. But this week, as my wife and I were writing our paychecks, I couldn’t ignore the prompt. So we committed to tithing on our gross income. And check out what happened next…

Just 20 minutes later, we received an email totally out of the blue with a $1,400 deduction in a large bill! It was a complete surprise.

In today’s devotional verse, Malachi 3:10, God challenges us to see if we can out give him.

Newsflash: we can’t!

In no way do I share this to brag. Instead, I want to encourage you to rethink giving, like we did.

Maybe it starts with giving $5 to help fill vans with kids to escape war in Ukraine. Or maybe it’s buying gift cards to bless the single mom at work. Maybe it’s something exponentially more extravagant than my family can even dream of right now.

All I know is that God LOVES cheerful givers and isn’t about to let you out give him!

Let’s take up his offer and challenge him. I’m so glad we did.