As a little girl, I remember getting ten dimes for my allowance every week and putting one dime away to take to church with me on Sunday. As early as I can remember God received HIS portion first because I had Godly parents that trained me up in the way I should go. Tithing became as natural as brushing my teeth. My parents lived lives of surrender to God and I watched them honor God with all of their resources!
I only remember struggling once in my life and that wasn’t over giving God His tenth, but WHERE to give God his tenth. I had received a settlement and wasn’t sure I wanted to give a tenth of it to my local church. Crazy I know…but I had a bout of “I want to give it to MY choice.” It is interesting that we love loop holes and technicalities when our knees get weak in faith. Thankfully I bounced it off a spiritual person who admonished me that I was missing the point. It was God’s money and I needed to give it to my local church with no strings attached…it was HIS to watch over. I obeyed and felt peace.
I am quite certain I am not the only one who has struggled with loop holes. Common questions are:
• Do I tithe on my gross or my net?
• Do I tithe on inheritances or just salary?
• Do I tithe on birthday gifts and wedding gifts….do I tithe on …..?
The correct question is, “Why wouldn’t I?” How we steward our time and our money reveals more about our surrender to God than anything because they are our most coveted resources. When I give of both, I free myself from being a dead end receptacle of God’s generosity and instead I am a living receptacle in which life flows through me, to others and back to God. We are made to be channels, not reservoirs. Giving changes us!
I love this quote by Selwyn Hughes. “I am sure you come across opportunities to be generous almost every day, and if you fail to respond to those opportunities, who knows what rivers will not flow, what great ministries will never come to birth, what mighty things will not get done? God has opened the door of generosity to you; don’t fail to open up the door of generosity to others.”
I agree with Paul and want to be someone God trusts to steward all His generosity!
Acts 20:35
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”