(Leviticus 27:30 NIV) A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.

Hope you had a Happy tax day! Americans everywhere (except those in a combat zone) are celebrating the fact that on average 37% of every dollar we earn goes back to the government in the form of taxes. Hurrah for the tax man!

Seriously though, God put a form of religious taxation on the people of Israel. It was called the tithe. The tithe was a tenth of all gain. When the herd calved the tenth calf belonged to God; when the field was reaped the tenth sheaf belonged to God.

Israel had an elaborate religious system. The tithe supported the system by paying the salaries of everyone—the whole tribe of Levi—who worked in the religious program from the priests who offered sacrifice on the altar to the janitors who disposed of the ashes. Every Levite man spent his whole life in religious service for the nation. He was even exempted from the draft so he could provide religious support to the soldiers as they went to war.

When that religious system worked, it worked well. It gave the people a sense of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. And it let them know that that holy God wanted to be reconciled with those sinful people. (It didn't work all that often, though. Israel were irreligious more often than they were religious.) But that religious system came to an end in Christ. He is both our priest and our lamb. He is our temple—the place we gather to meet with God.

And with the end of that religious system came the end of tithing as a religious tax. Now some of my churchly brethren might want to argue with me, but I'll say it again, tithing as a holy tax system ended at the cross. Christ had broken down the barrier, the wall, between God and his people. And that is what the religious system was: a barrier. Sinners couldn't come directly to God; they had to go through intermediaries: the descendants of Levi. But that system of intermediaries was no more. And with its end came the end of the requirement for its support.

But how then can the cause of Christ and his Church be pressed forward if the taxation system that had supported it for so long is no more? If Christians aren't required to give won't they be stingy with God? I think not. There's no greater motivator to liberality than the cross. In Christ we have all the riches of heaven and none of the riches we have here will transfer there. The cross doesn't demand a tenth, its love demands our all.

Lord, the taxman takes 37% to further this kingdom. Why should I want to only give you 10% to further the everlasting one? Bless your Church and your children. Amen.

—Dale Forrester