Brethren,There is an issue about tithe and tithing that everyone is discussing on facebook. I want you to know that this is not new at all. By experience, I have discovered that there is a particular doctrine of the Bible that people twist and hammer on as if that is the main thing about our faith. This is my take on it.
1. Run away from anything and anyone that pitches you against your brothers and sisters in the common faith. "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." ( Romans 16 : 17 )
2. Take your stand on your persuasion and conviction. Whether you pay tithe or not is between you and God. Don't let anyone confuse you and pls don't confuse yourself. "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." ( Romans 14 : 5 )
3. As much as possible, teach things that will unite the people of God, not divide us. Teach what edifies, builds; not the things that tear us apart. "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." ( Romans 14 : 19 )
4. Don't join those who are carried about with every wind of doctrines. At a time, it was men and women who just returned from heaven or hell, who set aside biblical standards to give us extra biblical experiences. From there, the wind blew hyper grace doctrine on us. Now it's tithe. It will soon blow away and another will come. Beware! "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;" ( Ephesians 04 : 14 )
5. Realise that most of these doctrines are strange. They are controversial. You don't need to be a controversial man of God. Those who are given to controversy lose their voice. They fizzle out before their emergence into limelight. Get yourself out of any strange doctrines. "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." ( Hebrews 13 : 9 )
6. Those who spend time on strange doctrines waste time and resources. Life is too short to spend on frivolities. There is a lot we can do for God with your talent, time and treasure. You are a christian, not an arthenian! "For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)" ( Acts 17 : 21 )
7. Be on the alert! When the devil wants to hit you hard, he first isolates you. He plants pride in you. He gives you a false impression that you are an authority, that you don't listen to anyone else. When you become an island, when you ignore fellowship with brethren; you set up yourself as a prey for the enemy. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." ( Hebrews 10 : 25 )