On Sunday I heard a wonderful study about what the true gospel is in it’s simplest form. In case I missed certain parts for the first two services, by the third service I had it ingrained in my mind. [If you’re thinking I’m uber holy because I stayed at church for all three services, I’m not. The guest speaker was just so HOT and I was entranced by his piercing blue eyes, I had to listen over and over. Annnnnd he was my husband, so I stayed to show my support.:)]
In short, the bible could be wrapped up into three sections: 1. Love God with all that you are, 2. Love your neighbor as yourself, and 3. We are blessed to be a blessing to others.
That’s it. It’s clear, simple, sound. We charted through Genesis, then Isaiah, then Matthew, then Mark. It was a whirlwind tour through the Old and New Testament revealing the principle that God blesses us so we can bless others.
The driving topic wasn’t tithing or giving our resources away, but I couldn’t help but marinate in the phrase, Blessed to be a blessing. Each time I heard the study, I drew more and more parallels to my finances.
Tithing and giving back are important aspects to my personal faith journey. Because of cynicism and pilfering in the Church or religious organizations, I know tithing and giving aren’t popular terms or concepts with people my age. Our generation doesn’t want to give money away without knowing where it’s going. Many millennials have trust issues with organized institutions, the Church being one of them. I don’t blame my friends for being skeptical. But being skepticism doesn’t excuse our response of withholding blessings. If God blesses us, we are blessed to bless other people. Plain and simple.
It’s important to remember we are managers—not owners—of our finances. God owns everything. Giving back [to the Church and others] reminds us of these four principles:
- First, it shows we understand that God is the one who provided.
- Second, it is saying, God, I believe you will continue to provide for me.
- Third, it breaks the power of money in our life.
- Fourth, it allows us to acknowledge God has provided enough and we are able to be generous with others.
I received a questions about tithing last week via the facebook page. I’ve blogged about this topic before and followed up with a vlog. I posted the video here to give a bit more background on the subject. Feel free to ask questions, post stories, or share your experience when you’ve blessed to be a blessing.
Tithing…it's easy to look around and become leery about giving away money; however, I also believe that we can trust God with the funds. I give to my church because I see the fruit, and I trust the elders are godly men who desire to use the money in an honorable way. I believe that if for some reason that money is being misused that God will still honor my giving, because it's the heart that counts. Ultimately, God is in control, and I believe He gives us discernment in our giving.
Allow me to share something personal..as if I don't ever! lol.. Last year my hubby and I tithed separate. We struggled all year living paycheck to paycheck. I can say (with his permission) that he was not very diligent in tithing. He'd tithe here and there and thought it was ok,or enough.. (Again, this is with his permission).. Well guess what happened.. HE GOT AUDITED BY THE IRS.. FOR THE 7YRS!!! All is well with the IRS now, but I took him through scripture and showed him the importance of tithing.. This yr we have been diligent in our giving, not only our finances but giving of ourselves to the church we now call our home. God has blessed us, we are not rich, but we have food, clothing, shelter, and more importantly.. We have been obedient to our Lord. God is a rich God, HE does NOT need our money, HE wants our hearts to be loyal to HIM. I'm not saying that if he had tithed he would not have gotten audited, who knows, but we are not willing to take that risk again. AGAIN, he gave me permission to share this 🙂
We tithe along the same lines. Our church is very transparent as to how they use the funds and has open board meetings. We can also choose to tithe to keeping up our church or to give to our sister church in the less fortunate area of SD. I think it keeps us accountable, too, as to how our money is spent. I like the third bullet here. Money takes such stronghold in our lives. I fully admit that my husband is way better about keeping us consistent with tithing than I am.
I'm curious what you think about the idea that we should feel the effects of tithing. What I mean is, that it should FEEL like a sacrifice. Thoughts?
Bianca, thanks fpr informing us about grace giving. There are so many that are fearful of giving. I hope this freed them up.
I could write a book on this topic. Since I was little it's been ingrained in me that I MUST tithe. And, to be honest, I love to do it! As a 'life-long tither' (oh that sounds sooooooo obnoxious) I have seen the windows of heaven POUR OUT blessings upon me.
Just this week my boss informed me that I'm getting a bonus 3x what I deserve/earned and he has no idea why. I'm all, "My man Jesus is hookin' me up!"
When we're faithful in the little things God can makes us a ruler over much…
But! That's not the motivation we should have to give, obviously. I'll stop you explained it much better… 🙂
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