9. If we don’t tithe, we are robbing God. T /
Under the Old Covenant, that was true. But not under the New Covenant. Here I’m not just talking about giving 10% - you are free to still choose to give 10% anyway - I’m talking about just giving 10% as a fixed amount without seeking God about it. If we (blindly) tithe in this way, we are robbing God of the chance to be Lord to us in our finances.
We can’t serve two masters – Jesus and the Law (Rom 7:1-6). We should live by relationship, not formula. Jesus died and paid such a high price to gain this relationship with us – why would we want to go back to the old formulas of the Law and ignore our Head?
Think about your own hand. How does it know when to reach into your wallet and take out some money to give? How much to give? To whom to give? Isn't your hand supposed to receive such instructions from your mind? You would think your hand had gone crazy if it started taking it upon itself to just begin giving away money by some "formula" rather than by receiving instructions first from your mind ... right? We are Christ's hand. We are supposed to receive our instructions from the HEAD (Christ is the head of the body). Not just some kind of written instructions, but "living" instructions from the living Christ, on a day by day, moment by moment basis.
(from Gary Carpenter: Questions and Answers
http://www.garycarpenter.org/QnA.html#Q2)
Perhaps He’s trying to tell us to give more, or less, or to different places – but if we are not listening and just giving a preset amount to a predetermined place, this robs him of being able to use us to bless others, and others to bless us.