How do you feel about sharing your income with people you don’t know? The poor and needy need your help. Your church is struggling to pay bills and maintain its mission work. When you think of how to divide your income, do you think of the poorest, too? Or do you let the worry of becoming one of the poorest keep you from being a cheerful giver?
With so many people living in fear of an unexpected car repair or medical emergency, it is easy to understand why offering plates are filling at a rate far below the biblical tithe level. In 2015, American Christians gave less than three percent of their income to charitable organizations or their church. This is down a full percentage point from a few years ago.
Whether or not you or your church believes in tithing, charitable giving is supposed to be a Christian thing. Remember Jesus telling us “whatever we do for the least of my brothers and sisters…?” Job and Paul explaining how we enter the world naked and penniless and that’s how we will leave? How we’re supposed to give our second tunic away?
Christian financial counselors always recommend setting aside ten percent for the church right away. Now you may not agree with tithing and you are correct in saying that it is not a sin to withhold tithes; but donating money to support the church is a basic Biblical principle. Arguments that tithing is part of the old law or only applied to land wealth or that Jesus didn’t tell us to tithe can be debated and refuted as easily as the arguments that Jesus came from a tithing household or that he told the Pharisees they should tithe.
What we cannot refute is that being a generous and cheerful giver releases God’s blessings on us. Proverbs 11:24-25 tells us, “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” It is an uncanny fact of life that those who share their blessings never seem to be in want.
Traditional tithing involved the first ten percent of crops and wealth. The strongest and healthiest livestock were used in animal sacrifices. The tribes of Israel didn’t eat their fill and give the leftovers to the Levites. The tithe came from the earliest and best harvests.
That is how to budget your church offering. Put a percentage or dollar amount away immediately and budget your life on the rest. Too many of us start a budget with what we are already paying each month. Rent or mortgage, car payments, tuition, and other obligations come first. Regular entertainment like the cable bill, cell phones and nights out come next. For some, savings or retirement plans are in the mix. Then a percentage of what remains is designated for the church…unless an emergency comes up.
What about you? When you decide how to divide your income, do you think of the poorest first? Are you willing to give up some of what God has given you to be like Jesus wants us to be? Can you put the Christian calling of caring for others ahead of your own desires?
When you budget your monies, think well about how to divide your income. Think of the poorest around you. How much more can your church (or other charitable institution) do if everyone thought that way? Look at your obligations. Do you really need a car for each driver in the house? Do you need 800 television channels? Keep track of where your pocket money goes each month. How much leaves your bank account five-to-ten dollars at a time for coffee or fast food?
Each of us must give Jesus a personal account of how we managed our earthly treasures (Rom 14:12). Think about how you are doing with your allotment. Can you do better?
Please get in touch now and let’s make these things better together.
