When someone thinks of sacrifice, they probably think of old biblical traditions, or something people do in those one weird religions and cults we hear about. Honestly that might be true, but sacrifice holds a whole new meaning when we use it for our own good. Here’s what I mean. Sacrifices exist. They have been a part of history for as long as we can remember. You may have read in books about people sacrificing to their gods in return for something better, such as a good crop or rainfall, etc. This is not the type of sacrifice we are talking about here, though it holds similar concepts. Those kinds of sacrifice were often associated with the dark world, it they were even real. The sacrifice we are talking about is the one God gave as a gift to mankind to help him become unstuck, or to elevate to our higher selves. Let’s explore what that means in further detail.
To believers, we know exactly what that means – or at least have a general idea of sacrifices, offerings and tithing. When we sacrifice, we give up something in exchange for initiating change in ourselves and to give stuck situations the opportunity to get unstuck, to progress and to make permanent change. So how does it really work? When we offer something up to God, He changes it by blessing it and then returns the changed sacrifice to us so that we can be changed by partaking it. God tells us that an acceptable sacrifice to God is by a portion of our finances. We sacrifice our money to God and He blesses it and changes it by using it for ministry and then we are sanctified by being changed by our participation in that ministry.
However, a common misconception is that sacrificing money to God will come back to make you rich. Sometimes that happens, but it’s just temporary. The point of the sacrifice of money is not to become financially prosperous – It’s to become spiritually prosperous.
Why does this work?
Consider how much anxiety, anger, selfishness, worry, etc go into our whole approach to money in the modern age. This is ripe for all kinds of addictions, blaming, and focusing on other people’s perceived dysfunctions. When you tithe, you take back responsibility for yourself. When you tithe, you are sacrificing, or giving up that sense of control, so that you can be exorcised of that reactivity or addiction.
We do it not to satisfy a budget or because we hope God will help us win the lottery or hope to get a raise – none of that is the point at all. We sacrifice (tithe) together because we need to get unstuck and because we need to get serious about offering something to God for His blessing and transformation – for an eternal prosperity.
