Friday, March 09, 2007

A Tithing Lesson

"Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom? Proverbs 17:16

"Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine." Proverbs 3:9-10

I think I am being told something this morning. I have talked about tithing before. Andy and I do tithe, and in our case, we use the Biblical reference of tithing 10% of our income. Tithing is not something that we have always done automatically. It was learned. And we're still not 100% on it. There are those weeks where Andy works a little less and the paycheck just isn't big enough to stretch, so we bypass the tithe that week. When I look at my giving statement for last year and our income for last year, we definitely have more work to do in the area to tithing. But we do tithe for the most part.

Right now, Andy isn't working, so we haven't been tithing. Those unemployment checks are so tiny, and each one could get split about 15 different ways. And one of the things that has bothered me about Andy not working is that we are not able to do our giving as we usually do. Hey- that's progress when that is what bothers me about Andy's lay-off right now. But this morning I was reading about a little old lady who lived on a very tiny social security check, and always tithed the first 10% to God. Hmmm... Unemployment compensation isn't really that different from a social security check. I swear I can hear God in my head asking "Just how far do you trust me?" 10% of not much is a lot. Yet he has provided completely this far. Our bills are continuing to be paid, and there is plenty of food in the pantry. Here is another verse I found this morning.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My House. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:10

I guess we need to tithe on our unemployment. This is going to be a huge step of faith for us, and a difficult one at that. I pray earnestly that God will continue to bless us, and that he will be able to use that little amount that we are now going to start giving each week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe in spirit-led offerings so i don't believe in the tithe mandate. At this moment the Spirit is leading me to give above 10%. I do think that debt is horrible. So it's kind of strange to ask the question, which is the better of two evils - not tithe and pay bills or pay bills and not tithe. Of course the first step is to change stewardship habits. So i guess we should all start with being 100% stewards first. http://churchtithesandofferings.com

Erika W. said...

Tithe, I do agree with allowing the Spirit to lead the amount of offerings. For us, we have been comfortable with 10%. We're not asking whether to pay the bills OR do our tithing. We are having faith and trusting that if we do tithe on our tiny, tiny income, that God will provide the other bit to pay the bills. We've been talking a lot about faith and trust lately, and I guess it's time to put our money where our mouth is, so to speak.

Thank you for you comments and causing further thought and reflection.

Unknown said...

I believe that all we have is given by God. We are just being stuards of it. I don't think that there is a "mandate" in an of itself; however, we should give out of our FIRSTFRUITS to God, definitely led by the Spirit. Erika, I think that you're right...it's not a choice to tithe or pay bills...it's an issue of trusting God to provide, and He will. Tithes are how the ministries of the church today are carried out. If members of the church don't tithe, there is not much way for the church (in today's society) to function...except that God will not be hindered by any roadblock to accomplish His goals. Okay, that was a lot of rambling!

Tithe, I just saw that you mentioned changing stewardship habits...I TOTALLY agree!