| But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Lk9:62 God always gives his best. He gave his best to Lucifer. He gave his best to Adam. He gave his best to Moses and the people of Israel. He gave his best to David. He gives his best according to the time and the circumstances of the given period. But when Lucifer looked back unto himself, he fell. When Adam looked to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and looked back, he fell. When the children of Israel looked back to Egypt, they fell. When David took the census and stepped out of faith, he fell. God gave Jesus to the Jews in the fullness of time. He asked of the Jew to end looking to the law and to begin to look to Jesus. Because they did not look forward but backward to the law, they fell. When Jesus died on the cross he gave us his Spirit. At Pentecost, the Spirit fell on the church and the church was born. God expects us not to look to the law or to tithing, not to look backward, but to look to the Spirit and to the law of love in our giving and our ministry and our judgment and appraisal of man. It is not that the law is bad or that tithing is bad. It is good and was good for the time in which it was given. The law was the best that God could give to man who was not regenerate with the Holy Spirit. Abraham the father of our faith, gave his tithe to Melchizedek, which was the best he could give. We as new covenant Christians must not look backward but forward, and live and walk in the Spirit and in love and give from the heart. The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, the Anointed one and his anointing, but now we are no longer under the law but grace. To look backward, to follow the law and the rule of tithing is not looking forward but backward. It was the best that we could accomplish in the old covenant, but we are no longer under the old covenant but under the law of love. Jesus said a new commandment I give you, love as I have loved you. It is a sacrificial love, a love that does not count the cost, a love the presents its body as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. To follow the letter of the law ultimately brings death. To follow the Spirit of the law brings life. It is the goal and the objective of the new covenant Christian to learn to live and walk in the Spirit and not follow the lusts and the desires of the flesh. We must move forward, not backward. We must learn to move in the Spirit and not in the letter of the law. Amen |