Totally Devoted

“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD's; it is holy to the LORD. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the LORD. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.” (Leviticus 27:30-33 ESV) As the book of Leviticus comes to a close, Moses concludes all the classes of laws with those about vows and tithes and offerings. The bottom line is this: everything belongs to God, and those things which we give back to Him, our Word and our possessions, are especially His. He has full claim to them. We are not to try to hold back what we like best, swap it for something else, and give God what we feel like. We are to keep our vows and give Him the first and best of our resources. That's because His is our LORD; we are His people, and He does better with who we are and what we have than we do ourselves. There is no substitute for total devotion and submission to Him.