Someone has wisely said: “God has no grandchildren, only sons and daughters!” To truly belong to God’s family, one must accept Jesus as his/her personal Saviour and be converted. Towards the end of Genesis chapter 28 we see a very different Jacob emerging as he begins his personal, lifelong devotion to God. No longer reliant on his mother and father for his connection to God, he makes some very real choices and a personal vow to God.

“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.’” Genesis 28:19-22

Baby Christians often put conditions on their loyalty to God – “If You will..  I will..” etc. – and it seems to me that God is happy to work with that. He recognises that the faith He gives us needs time to develop to the place where we can say with Job: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!” As we experience His faithfulness, we see that it is foolishness NOT to trust Him, even when we can see no way through the stuff that life loads upon us or takes from us!

Returning a faithful tithe to God, as Jacob now promises to do, is one of the tests that God uses to see how our faith is developing. He has no need for our tithe; as the old hymn goes: “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine!” He could easily finance the work of His church if He chose to, but to develop our faith He asks us to give Him a percentage of two of the things that the carnal heart clings to the most; one-tenth of our increase and one-seventh of our time!

How I wish you were not so pressed for time this morning so that I could tell you how God has blessed me since I decided, many years ago, to surrender in those two areas.  But that’s a journey you’ll experience best when you personally say yes to God!

Have a great day!