A wealthy businessman refused a clergyman's request for a donation to a charity, saying, ″As far as I can see, this Christian business is just one continuous give, give, give.″ After a brief interval, the clergyman answered, ″I wish to thank you for the best definition of the Christian life that I have yet heard.″²

Giving was to be central to the life of God's people. Instructions on giving appear in 6 of the 15 chapters of this section of Moses' speech, which gives specific laws (Deuteronomy 12-26).

Deuteronomy 14:22-27 describes the annual tithe. The people are to give ″a tenth of all that [their] fields produce each year″ (v. 22). These gifts are called ″tithes″ (v. 28) in English, from the old English word for ″tenth″. The tithe was to be eaten at Israel's central place of worship (v. 23). Presumably, only some of it was consumed and the rest would be given to the Levites.

In Deuteronomy 14-15, God also implemented other forms of giving apart from the annual tithe. A special third-year tithe was to be stored in towns to provide for the needy and for the Levites, who did not have lands from which to support themselves (14:28-29). All firstborn male livestock was also to be offered to the Lord (15:19). The discipline of setting valuable animals apart was to remind the Israelites that everything they had belonged to the Lord. They were merely the stewards, not the owners. The Israelites were also prohibited from giving defective offerings to God (v. 21), since it clearly missed the point of revering God (14:23).

Through the habit of tithing, the people would learn to ″revere the Lord . . . always″ (v. 23) as it confirmed and established their commitment to God. It is easy to neglect God's lordship over our lives as we get engrossed in the things of this world. But tithing what we earn reminds us that everything we have comes from God, and that God is most important to us. While the New Testament does not legislate tithing, Christians can find it a helpful way to express their devotion to God.

We show God's lordship over our lives when we set apart offerings to God as essential, basic expenditures, rather than viewing them as an option based on how much money we have remaining after other expenses. The command to be very careful to give the best to God reminds us that we must give only our best to God. By getting used to giving God only the best, we develop an attitude to life that says God is the most important.