Tithing and God’s blessings

My question is about tithing. I'm running across people who seem to think that if you tithe that God will bless you generously in a financial way. They cite Malachi 3. I've read it, and it appears to say what they say it says. What does WELS say?

Tithing, in general, was the subject of the question asked and answered in the June 2017 “Light for our path” column in Forward in Christ. This link will take you to that column.

Regarding your specific question, God’s people had not been giving back to him as he had instructed them. Were the people thinking that they would have more possessions if they gave less than God commanded? That’s how human math can work. In Malachi 3 God instructed his people to give what he commanded and then see if he didn’t take care of them—and then some.

Elsewhere in the Bible we can find additional promises from God to bless faithful management of his possessions. Consider these verses from the book of Proverbs—3:9-10; 11:24; and, 22:9. See also what Jesus said in Luke 6:38.

An important point to keep in mind is the motivation behind the gifts that we give back to God. We do not give to get additional blessings from God. We give because we are thankful for God’s many gifts to us—chief among them is the gift of his Son, our Savior.

Hopefully you can see that it is not a matter of what WELS says about this but what Scripture says.