Depending on the church you attend and your doctrinal beliefs, people feel they should give anywhere from nothing up to a huge portion of what they earn. Most though hold to ten percent of their income as Tithe, but often this can turn into a battle of is that “before or after taxes”? Some think it should be thirty percent of your income. There are even some that believe because the Pharisees in Luke 18:12 said he “give tithes of all that I possess”, so they say you must pay ten percent of all you own (let’s hope you do not have a really nice home).
There are those that think we owe God nothing, or as they put it, tithing was under the Law and we are not under the Law. To that, Adam and Eve come to mind where they could have all of the garden but of one tree, it was to them a part of the blessing that was reserved by God and they were not to touch. Then we have Abraham paying tithes. Later we have Jacob promising God that he would give a tenth part of everything God gives him. These are all before the Law.
Okay, so what do you give in an offering, ten percent, thirty percent or perhaps whatever we fill like when the mood strikes us? Where do we give the tithes?
Let’s see if we can answer that last question first. Scripture says:
Mal 3:8-11 ~ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
It seems the tithe, should go to your local church in order to take care of its needs and enable it to be a blessing to others. What if you do not go to church? Well, I was in that position once and what I did was simply to give to different ministries. After I found a local church though, the tithe always went to the local church and I continued to send my offerings to the other ministries.
What offerings, isn’t that the tithe? Well, there is the tithe, but there is also offerings, that giving from your heart beyond the old requirement of a tithe. For me, I have a set amount of offerings on top of tithe which is sent out to all those other ministries. This is just part of my life, I do not consider any part of the tithe or offering as mine, it is simple passed through me.
Some may say I cannot afford tithes, let alone offerings. When I hear those kinds of things, my thoughts go to the question, how is your walk with God? It would seem that if you really love God and you are passionate about your relationship with Him, giving should be a simply part of our “reasonable service” as from Romans 12:1-2. We should be happy to give unto God and see His work on this earth grow and be partakers in helping others. If this is not the case, then we need to examine our relationship with Him and see where we are failing.
Now that all this have been said, on to the reason for this post. Today I was thanking God the money to give and that I wish it could be more. Then a thought passed my mind and I told him that I was sorry I required so much for my own. Giving that more thought, I realized that I often look at this all wrong.
My view is the tithe and offerings going to God and I have all that left over for my own life to do with as I please. Perhaps I should be looking at it from a different perspective, such as my needs being met along with some level of comfort, but the money which is left over that really has no purpose, the extra, perhaps that should also be for God’s work.
I Remembered the parable in Luke about the man who had great increase:
Luk 12:16-21 ~ And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
He had increase far above his own needs, to the point he had plenty for a long time and no place to put this overflow, but in reality he should have used that increase to help others who might have lacked. Instead, he was looking at only his own needs and in the process lost out on everything. This reminds me of the Manna, that came down from heaven and feed the children of Israel for forty years. If they gathered more than they would need for a single day, it would spoil the next day except for the Sabbath, which the day before they were to gather twice as much so they would not have to work on the Sabbath.
It seems that our overflow is given to us to work the things of God, which is also a great blessing for us, or at least it is our opportunity to do so, however we want to look at it.