I came across this in my Bible reading today:
8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you. – Deuteronomy 26:8-11
I love this pattern, that you see again and again in God’s Word. You see this before the giving of the law in Exodus 19, that in the preamble to the Ten Commandments, God says to his people, “I rescued you from the land of Egypt on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” It is always the grace of God that fuels our obedience to God, and not the other way around. It is important that we get the order right, lest we think, if we obey, then God will be pleased with me, and then he will rescue me. Any parent knows this is a huge error in family life: if you do what I say, then I will love you – it will destroy children. Instead we say, I love you, I want what is best for you, so why would you disobey me? Obey in the context of my unconditional love, because that fosters a desire for obedience. And the same is true of the Lord.
And now, it says, because we know his salvation, we give the first fruits of the ground. The next verses reiterate the tithe as an expectation for God’s people in Israel. The tithe goes all the way back to Genesis 14, in fact, under the priest Melchizedek. But the heart motivation is the important thing here. We love because he first loved us, and we give because of how much he freely gives to us. Always get the order right and your heart will be pointed in the right direction, get it backwards and it can lead to legalism or to a rejection of him when things don’t go your way.