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Do Not Put God To The Test
We're born naked. We live for a hundred and twenty years max. We go through life's ups and downs. We die and are buried with nothing but the clothes on our backs. That's all there is to life. Such is the view of much of the world.
We, as Christians, see things a little differently. Before we were born we were well thought out, planned then created. When we die it is not the end but rather a new beginning. Our Great Creators will reward our good works with blessings of skills, talent, territory, leadership roles of kings and priests, love, joy, peace, and eternal life like radiant precious jewels and pearls and the noon day sun, qualities and blessings beyond our strained imaginations capacity to conceive.
That's all well and wonderful but still top secret mostly. I'd like to talk about that dash between the dates on tombstones. That game of life we play trying to be efficient, effective, smart, useful, righteous and good in God's eyes. We use every trick we can master and think of. There is a Snakes and Ladders element, a Monopoly element, a Clue element, a chess player element, a hockey player element, a career building element, a banking element, an investing element, a family element, a standard of living element, a retirement element and all kinds of unknown and surprise elements.
We know this to be Satan's world. He controls false religions, corrupt governments, greedy businessmen. Only once you step outside the box into the freedom that is found in the one true religion of God can you grasp the extent and depth of Satan's control. With study and knowledge of God's Word, the Holy Bible, you build greater and greater understanding with age. Everyone develops at his and her own pace and acquires unique attributes based on preferences and aptitudes.
A concept dawned on me recently regarding what God wants us to do with our lives, how we are to live in this Satanic world. What really sets us apart and makes us different from the rest. There is one aspect of this that has not been made clear, we are not to test God.
Do not put God to the test.
Luke 4:12 (NASB)
And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”
What does testing God mean? Let me explain in a bit of a roundabout way. Look at the following verse, notice; test me in this, pay your tithe.
Malachi 3:7 - 10 (NKJV)
Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the LORD of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’ 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try (test) Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
What does paying your tithe involve? First you must work and get paid. Then you can start paying your tithe. Then you can expect even more blessings from God. He already blessed you with the will to work, the skills and aptitude needed to do the work and the health to continue to work. You must maintain these blessings and certainly give thanks for them all. And you can expect more, He promised more, much more. He did not give a time frame however.
Paying tithes is the only way that God allows Himself to be tested. Freeloading and receiving God's blessings is not promised. Living beyond your means by borrowing money to do so is not acceptable. You are to pay tithes of your increase, borrowing money is a decrease, a debt, not an increase. It may seem like an increase until you finish paying the interest, if you ever finish. Don't expect any more blessings if you do this.
Having said this there is manageable debt that is within your means like taking on a mortgage and paying it off within a reasonable time frame. Some businesses are better managed by carrying some debt also. Much more could be said about this.
Note also that you must keep your health in order to continue to work. Your pay must provide adequate food, clothing and shelter. If your pay does not allow you to do that then it is insufficient to derive a true increase, it only partially supplies sustenance, and you should then not pay tithe, not yet, not until adequate pay is reached. A detailed explanation and discussion would require a separate article.
Likewise, if in reaching old age you are no longer able to work for any number of reasons you may not be able to pay tithes or God may not require that you pay tithes. In retirement you spend savings on which tithes may have already been paid. You might have capital gains but you might also have capital loses. You should concentrate your efforts and income of providing adequate food, shelter and clothing first and to maintain your health. God after all did promise blessings and does want us to prosper.
The same rules apply for taking care of your loved ones. Your first responsibility is your own health. You cannot physically take care of someone if you die before him or her nor can you continue to support them financially if you die before them.
God controls the heart. If God stops a heart from beating it is God's will and it is not mandatory to resuscitate especially if it means financial ruin and ill health for the bill payers and survivors. The only people you are going to help in such a situation are the doctors, medical staff and the hospitals. Death is inevitable and is up to God not some doctor or life support system.
Luke 9:60 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
We are to live the Christian life and aim for paying tithes not freeloading on government handouts like the Medicare system or to try to live up to this system in foreign countries where Medicare is not available, like trying to keep up to the Joneses.
We are not to put God to the test by running up our debt beyond manageable levels. We are not to put God to the test by running ourselves raged and endangering our health and life rendering us burdens to our loved ones. We are not to trust that God will get us out of whatever situation we put ourselves into. We are not to put God to such self-devised or worldly tests when we can avoid them.
What we do is test God by paying tithes and managing our lives to the best of our ability and to the best of our God guided knowledge and to the best of our God given understanding and as God gives us wisdom.
We are not slaves to doctors or bankers or credit cards. We are not slaves to Satan who would run us ragged and destroy our lives. We are slaves of God our Creator and Sustainer and to His written Word the Holy Bible.
To my knowledge, Mother Teresa, for example, never converted a single soul to the obedience of God's forth commandment, the test commandment and the sign that we are God's chosen ones nor did she ever preach, teach or promote the Kingdom of God religion.
Avoid false idols like life support systems and credit card debt and bad role models like doctors and bankers. Keep things in their proper places.
Do not put God to the test. He has not promised to bail you out of every situation you conjure up and put yourself into. Do not test His love on your grounds. Aim to do His will and accept His will not your own.
The only test that God allows for testing Him is the test of tithing and he doesn't have to fulfill His promise until the next life, after or at the resurrection and during eternal life. Test God His way, your eternal life is at stake.
2019 Jacques Gauvin
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