Will a Man Rob God?

[373 words] I once heard a comedian confess that in his childhood, he and a friend would wrap double-stick tape around their fingers before the collection plate was passed on Sundays. They would make it look like they were placing something in the plate, when they were actually taking coins out. Any right-thinking person can see how deplorable such thievery is. We would never be guilty of such a terrible deed. Or, would we? When the prophet Malachi delivered his scathing rebuke of God’s people, one sin to which he called attention was stealing from God. “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions” (Mal. 3:8). Though the Law of Moses required the Jewish people to give to God ten percent of their crops and flocks for the support of the priests and Levites (Lev. 27:30-32;…