It doesn't take a genius to look around and see that we as a state, country and world have gotten ourselves into some financially trying times. Many people are losing their savings, their retirement, their jobs on a daily basis. It is really sad, yet I am going to look into the topic of giving. Yes I know, what in the world am I doing, bringing up the subject of giving in times like this? Well, you probably think I'm going to break out the old saying, you have to sow seeds to reap a harvest, and I agree this is true, but I don't and won't present it like all the "health and wealth" preaching going on out there.
First off, if you are a tither (give 10% religiously to your church) that's great, but if it offends to hear that I don't believe a tithe is required then I would stop reading now.
I will not go to much into why I feel the Bible does not require a tithe, that is a topic I could spend many words and hours on. A church, as many establishments and organizations, need funds to operate, that's just a fact of life. I am all for a person supporting their church, and feel strongly that members of a church should indeed do all they can to support their church financially.
1 Corinthians 16:1,2 "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also; On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come."
In this verse Paul is instructing the Corinthians to give, but he is instructing them to give as they prosper. He is not giving them a fixed amount, such as 10%. No required amount or percentage of giving to the Lord's work is specified in the New Testament. All giving to the Lord should be free will giving and discretionary.
Let's touch on free will giving first. Look at Romans 15:26. "For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem." This was a free will offering given out of the heart and not because it was required or demanded. We love our children and our children love us because we want to, because of the relationship between us. Right? Not because we are required or demanded to love one another. With that being said, I want to make this statement so no one gets the wrong idea when giving. It has to be a sacrifice. True giving from the heart is a sacrifice. For what kind of giving is it if you give out of your abundance?
Mark 12:44 "For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had, her whole livelihood."
Now lets look at giving in a discretionary way. Jesus says in Matthew 6:3-4. "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in a secret, and your Father who sees in secret will of himself reward you openly."
How many times have we seen or even have done this? Give for all to see, see how great we are for our big hearts and gracious motives. That's all fine and dandy, the problem is when we do this we are seeking the praise of men rather than the praise of God. We should always keep in our minds that it does not matter what people think of us. For the only opinion that matters is how God sees us. Does he look upon us the wretched sinner we are, full of hypocrisy, or does He see us washed in the blood of His son and as faithful servants? IT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS WHAT OTHERS THINK OF YOU.
Malachi 3 8-10 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me! But you say, in what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me. Even this whole nation bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food n my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of Heaven, and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."
I bring this verse into this blog to point out that I did not skim over this part of the Old Testament when reading my Bible. So many people have thrown the "do not rob God" verse in my face every time I bring up that I feel a person should give out of their hearts freely, and not a certain amount under obligation. Many never take into consideration that the Levites were to be servers and priests in the temple full time (doing nothing else) and they completely depended on the ten percent of the crops, animals and money to survive on. When the tithes were unpaid, the priests were deprived and had to give up their ministry to farm for food to eat.
Let me finish with a verse that I believe wraps up giving in a nut shell for Christians today. 2 Corinthians 9:7 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver."
I love that verse. God loves a cheerful giver, and I think this goes beyond just momentary and material giving. but also giving of your time and your talents, the ways God has so richly blessed you to help others. The Greek word for "cheerful" is the word from which we get "hilarious" which suggests that God loves a heart that is enthusiastically thrilled with the pleasure of giving. Should we be giving then in such troublesome times, well I believe we should be giving more of all we have now because there are so many more out there in need of help.
My prayer for us all is that we develop a true passion for giving our all in all ways to the kingdom of God. That we build up "treasures in Heaven" as Jesus told us in the sermon on the mount. That we be the cheerful givers God loves and may we go forth in an attitude of cheerfulness in all things.
With love and prayers,
C.
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About Me
- chros
- I have a great wife I adore more and more everyday and three lovely girls that I thank God for constantly
10 comments:
I do agree with some of what you say but I whole heartedly believe that the Bible does instruct us to tithe 10% of what we earn...and that may not always be money it may be of our time,talents & even food...I never did quite understand why people felt that giving 10% isnt a commandment of god and so out of obedience we do give our 10%...now saying that Im not offended that you dont and I do believe you need to give out of a thankful & obedient heart...I never have or ever will be showy about the whole giving of my tithes but I do feel with going along with the scriptures that God does want us to tithe 10% and on top of that anything else extra being our offering...I just know in the past 20 yrs that I have been in church have seen in our own lives that when we have forgot about God or didnt give our 10% everything was so much worse and this is something Ive struggled with to be honest in the past but recently the Lord told me that no matter what if we will give him our 10% then he will bless us back 100%..now of course thats not why we give but rather out of obedience to him...not just to get blessed although he always does...and I really dont believe its coninsidence(sp?) lol time & time again I have seen & heard stories of how the Lord has blessed and so he told me that in this one of the hardest times in our loves financially that if we will ALWAYS put him first in our finances then he will ALWAYS put us first in his blessings...
*This is just my opinion Chris..dont take this the wrong way...this is just what the Lord has told me to do and I believe he does want us to give out of obedience...what you & your family decide is between you & God...
p.s. never knew you had a blog...now i do! lol
Whoo Hoo! You're back!
Uh, that's all I have to say!
Oh no you did not. Never comment on my blog again Angela. Haha. I am kidding of course and completely respect your opinion and view. Most people do agree with you out there and I expected people to post comments disagreeing with me. I respect you for being kind and pleasant in your response. I will actually post more on this topic probaly in the next few days showing more scripturally why i see this view as I do and how I feel the Bible supports it. However, I do feel that you and any one else who feels that they should and must tithe to do so, I am in no way trying to tell someone to stop giving ten percent, nor am I telling someone to merely limit themselves to 10 percent financially and thats it. Listen to God and be lead by Him who resides within you. I have been very tardy lately, but this is my blog and I do hope to be more frequent in my posts, got alot on my mind I want to write on.
C.
Ha!! Ha!! Chris...see I can be tactful when I want to be...lol I enjoy reading other peoples opinions and I will in no way try & change your opinion...
I give 10% of all cakes that I bake. Seriously, I bake a lot of cakes for church.
Chris and Kristy are very giving, I can't even count the times I have been offered one of their cats or kids for adoption!
Welcome back, Chris! And, Angela, very well stated.
I think sometimes we forget that the "church" is the "body of Christ" (Col 1:24). Giving shouldn't be confined to a single organized religion since our ultimate goal is to bring folks to our Lord. Listening to the Holy Spirit, gifting a bible may be more important than dropping a few extra bucks in the offering bucket on Sunday.
I'm completely with you Mike. Most churches, especially big churches, well most there revenue goes to the building. Don't get me wrong, I do like having a nice place to worship and praise, but is it worth it? What I mean is, we pump all this money into the building, for what? "Moth and rust" will overtime destroy it, and in the end days the true body of believers will not be able to meet in these buildings anyways because of the global persecution. So again, if a church is pushing pushing pushing a person to give ten percent, plus freewill offerings, plus firstfruits and putting the majority of that money to a building that is just temporal, how is that helping the orphans, the poor, the needy, the "least of these". Thats just one example of how we don't clearly see whats most important most of the time. I live around the amish as you know, and I gotta commend how they meet at each others houses for church when they have it every other week, for in the last days thats how we all will do it. Thanks for the comment Mike.
Chros
I totally agree Mike. I think the way some churches go on and on about the 10% is crazy.
Yeah I know I'm a little late on commenting but, I agree with Angela. I feel strongly about tithing at least 10%. I believe God commands us to do so. Yes, it can be hard at times to stick with it but it is so worth it! In bible times, the word tithe literally means 'a tenth.' So it's funny to hear people say "I tithe more than 10%" or "I don't believe in tithing 10%" because it doesn't make any sense. A more appropriate word might be offering.
I agree wholeheartedly that there is no point in giving at all if it's not in the right spirit. Sometimes I wonder why we aren't commanded to give even more than a tenth of our earnings? Everything there is, including what we think of as "our money," is already His. He owns all of it! He has just entrusted us to manage a part of what is already His! What a great responsibility! It helps me remember, what does God see when he looks at my checkbook? And sometimes it's hard to commit to an offering of a certain amount, because we can think we don't have enough or if we just had a little more it would be easier. But God doesn't always ask us to do what we think is right, He asks us to obey Him. To trust and step out in faith if necessary. I believe that includes money, also! Someone once told me that the reason we don't have more money is because God doesn't trust us with it. I think that is such a powerful statement! What kind of accountants are we for the Kingdom of Heaven?
I believe the God will bless us for obeying and trusting Him, but it might not always be a monetary blessing. We may receive blessings back we will never even realize, like health, relationships and happiness for ourselves and family.
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