Hello World!!!
The weather in the A is crazy, huh? It’s either tropical and raining or frigid and dry…Today is one of the colder days…somewhere in the 20s…that just ain’t right….
Anyway, let me get on task. So have you made your resolutions yet? As I said in my last post, it takes me the whole month of January to come up with suitable resolutions or more appropriately, goals. Some of my goals for the year will be concentrated on my finances. It’s an area I would rather not think about actually. This comes from my uneasiness about numbers in general. I think it’s just how I’m wired. I don’t know many journalists who are good with numbers. But alas, I’m 35 on the way to 36, and I still haven’t snagged a baller…so I guess I need to get my Plan B in gear.
But I must say I’m proud of the fact that I have been tithing since I got my first job in the eighth grade. There have been times due to irresponsibility and fear that I have missed tithing a paycheck from time to time, but for the most part, I’m a faithful tither. To tithe is to give ten percent of your income to the church. (One cannot assume that everyone knows what tithing means!) My father drilled it in me that if you give to the Lord what is due Him, He, in turn, will make sure that what is left is more than enough to provide for your needs. There is even a verse that describes this principle.
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
My father actually preached on this verse last Sunday. And this verse has been proven true in my life over and over again. A few years ago, I was going through a dark phase in my life. I was in between career jobs if you know what I mean. I was working at a department store in the mean time trying to make ends meet, but inevitably, someone would move the ends, ha, ha! My roommate had moved out leaving me with half of the money I needed to pay for my mortgage. My car had broken down, and I didn’t have the money to fix it. And right after I got the job at the department store, the department store shut down. I was so depressed I swear I didn’t open any bills for a few months. But during that time, nothing was turned off, and nobody came to get anything. I would like to think that my years of tithing had something to do with how the Lord took care of me. And when I finally had the courage to open my bills again, the Lord granted me favor with the bill collectors.
My absolute favorite author Catherine Marshall wrote about her experience with tithing in her book Something More. (How a white woman who could have been a contemporary of my grandmother became my absolute favorite author is a mystery to me, but I just adore her work. FYI – Her work is archived at Agnes Scott College in Decatur. I once spent my birthday reviewing her work at the Agnes Scott College library. Yes, I am quite obsessed…) Anyway, Catherine Marshall’s husband Peter Marshall suddenly died leaving Catherine, who was a housewife, and their young son to fend for themselves. In fact, they had to live off of $171 a month, according to the book. But Catherine decided to even tithe that. And the Lord took care of her. He told her that she was to “pick up [her] pen and edit and write.” Catherine became a best-selling author and has influenced generations with her work. The fact that a black woman with curly red dreads and who knows how to slow wine reads her work is a testament to that. (It’s sooo cold outside that I’m dreaming of being in Jamaica as I sit at my desk.)
So what’s up? Do you tithe? Has God proven to you that He will take care of you if you put Him first? Let me know…
Any thoughts?
P.S. Since Jamaica is on my mind, I have posted a video of one of my favorite Bob Marley songs. It reminds me of watching my dad wash his car on hot Saturday mornings…
My heater is going full blast in the office and I’m still cold…
Tithing isn’t a choice. It’s our obligation to God, bit it’s an obligation that comes with a blessing. If you want the windows of Heaven open over your life, you must tithe.
We tithe because we love God and acknowledge that 100% of what we have belongs to Him anyway. He’s being generous by asking for only 10% back!
Wow! God is awesome! This is a conversation my husband and I were having last night and a friend and I discussed this morning. I am one who does not easily admit that my tithing is not what it should be. I completely agree that it is an obligation. God had blessed my family tremendously, specifically in the past year after my husband had a stroke last January. He has brought us through: mentally, physically, and fincancially… we have made it. My question is this – does your tithe go to just the church where you are a member? Or does it also include giving to those in need? Or to another church where you have received a blessing? Haven’t found what is right…
Thanks Jackie this is one of my goals for this year.
It was really on time.
It is crazy to focus SO much on tithing that we neglect to explore the many other ways to love God (and love one another).
USA Today, “Some Christians keep tithing even as they face foreclosure”, quotes a woman who declined to give her name in the interview because “I don’t want people to think I’m crazy.” <>
I don’t think I would have allowed USA Today to publish my name either. For the exact same reason.
Javera,
The Bible tells us to tithe where we’re being fed, so that means your home church or if you don’t have a church then the ministry where you get the bulk of your teaching.
Giving to the poor is what the Word calls “alms,” and that’s something different. There are tithes, offerings (above and beyond the tithe), alms and gift of love.
dkwatts,
The believing Christian should never stop tithing. What a lot of us must do is use wisdom and common sense in our spending so we don’t dig ourselves into a financial hole because of foolishness.
@Chicki, according to what I’ve been taught, it is not mandatory that we tithe, but it most certainly shows the condition of our hearts. If we cannot give back to God, who gives sooo much to us, that’s a problem. I’m thinking of the rich young ruler who couldn’t part with his finances…
@JaVera, Hey Girl, thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I think it’s good to tithe where you got to church, but I don’t know if there are any hard and fast rules about tithing – other than we give 10 percent back to the Lord’s church
@Dkwatts, I don’t think that God wants us to give our mortgage money to the church, but I do think we should always strive to tithe…prayer plus common sense does go a looong way…
Hi,
I read your post and I am really tempted to ask, “where is the power of the covenant in the blood of Jesus?” You have attributed all that divine intervention to the fact that you tithe and unfortunately haven’t once given God the glory.
If paying tithes really secures all these things, then that means Christ died in vain since we were already able to achieve all of these by our own power; TITHING. God takes care of his own and since we did not have to do anything to make Jesus die for us we surely do not have to do anything to secure His protection and His provision, these we already have rights to when we become believers.
It is quite shameful that we attribute the workings of God in our life to our works (tithing in this case) instead of to his grace which saves us through faith.