“Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruit of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing.” (3:9, NIV)
A child went to a restaurant with his daddy. After the meal he saw the bill included a 15% service tax. The child exclaimed, "God only gets 10% and this waitress gets 15%."
The innocent question from this child actually reflects a lot of us in our daily living that we often overlook. When we talk about “money”, especially in the Chinese society, it often spells challenges. My mum actually gave the excuse for not coming to church because she heard, “If you go to church you are obligated to give 10% of all your earnings.” She didn’t want to give that much.
Another sweet lady says, “If a church talks about money, then the church has no love because love is not all about money.” Well, what do you think about this?
For those who think that giving a 10% tithes have their own thinking too: one member says, “O Well, since I am the one who give, I would like to give it MY way. I will use my 10% for God’s ministry anywhere (mission/buying things for church/whatever) even if I attend this church, I don’t have to pay my tithe to this church. As long as I am using the 10% for “ministry” it’s ok.”
Do you think this is ok? “Do you really love the house of God and want to help in the daily running of the church? Where do you think the money comes from? You mean you DO believe that money can fall from heaven?”
My beloved, where you worship, that’s where you are going to pay your tithes. The OT God-fearers paid their tithes to the temple; any extra giving is not from this portion. May we not deny God’s blessings in our lives by not honouring the Lord with our wealth.
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