God’s plan for finances……
Many years ago Sherelene and I did not tithe. We gave to our church and to charities we believed in but we did not give based on the biblical model of 10%. This morning devotional in Intouch from Dr. Charles Stanley reminded me of the great transformation that has taken place in mine and Sherelene’s finances since we made that commitment. I want to share a personal story, but first let me share the devotional and scripture.
Malachi 3:7-12
New Living Translation (NLT)
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
Though the world is full of disorder, confusion, and uncertainty, believers in Christ have the wonderful assurance that God is in absolute control of every situation. When He created the heavens and the earth, He had a purpose and a plan, which He carried out with precision and order. Nothing was haphazard, late, or uncertain. The Lord also has a plan for each one of us, and every aspect of our lives is not only under His scrutiny, but also under His care.
One of those areas is our finances. If we’ll follow God’s plan, He promises to manage our money. Now, that’s quite a blessing. After all, who do you think would be better at knowing how to handle money—you or our omniscient, all-powerful God? He promises that if we will give Him the first part of all we receive, He’ll provide for our needs. He has an amazing way of making the remainder stretch farther than the original amount.
So, considering the blessings of this promise and the unfailing faithfulness of the Promise Giver, what is keeping you from obeying this command? The most likely reason is unbelief—fear to test Him on this even though He invites you to do so. But you may be asking yourself, What if He doesn’t come through? What if I give it away and don’t have enough?
The Lord is after your trust, and what better area to test and build it than your finances? Believing Him for our salvation seems easy, yet we often doubt He’ll keep His promise when it comes to money. Take a step of obedience today, and discover how faithful your God really is.
Back then, in our early marriage, Dr. Stanley preached a sermon on his TV broadcast that was essentially what this devotional shared today. We decided that even though we didn’t think we could make it if we tithed that much, we committed to do it. Over the next several months all kinds of things happened that stretched the remaining money.
I think God knew I was still concerned so He arranged for a spectacular example of His faithfulness for me. One night in church a missionary came and share with us about their work in a far a way land. Both Sherelene and I were touched and wanted to give something. As we often did back then we shared what we thought would be the right amount, we didn’t have a lot. We both came up with the same figure, an amount that was not really what we could spare, but we agreed to give it in faith. It was fifty dollars. We wrote the check in obedience and I think it is safe to say we were both concerned about how wise it was to do so, but we knew that was the figure we had each been encouraged to give by the Holy Spirit.
The next day I got a call from a coal mining client and they asked me to rent a plane and fly over their property and shoot a list of images they needed. I contacted a pilot I knew and he flew me over the property to shoot he extensive list of shots. When I went up to see the folks in the mining office to tell them the images were shot, and to ask what size prints did they want, so I could send of the film and arrange for the printing, they floored me with their request! They wanted 5 presentation grade 16X20’s from the best shot of each thing on the list. They asked me to figure up a bill and they would pay me up front. My profit after expenses on the job came to exactly $5,000. 100 fold what we had given in church the night before!
Over the years God has continued to surprise us with countless blessing both financial and in many other ways. I met Charles many years later and shared this story with him, and he smiled knowing that his teaching had provide us with a life long blessing because of our obedience.
God is faithful, faithful to meet all our needs and even the desires of our hearts, as long as we put Him first and honor Him.
Blessings,
the pilgrim
Thursday I’m headed to Columbia S.C. for the annual CNPA, (Carolina Nature Photographers Association), Meeting. I will post from there! I have many wonderful brothers and sisters I’m looking forward to seeing while there. I little while back I posted about Bob Krist, and he is the keynote speaker for the event, I look forward to seeing my old friend and my brother Tim Isaacson too!
I’m praying for great things to happen there, I will share with you, the results of those prayers, going into the weekend!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 1:02 am
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Hi Bill,
I know that you’ve recommended a 10% tithe here, and what I’m going to say here may floor you.
Honestly, if you’d figure out the time and effort you put into the ministry of the kingdom at church, couple that with your gifts to visiting missionaries, to being responsive to the appeals of things like Samaritan’s Purse, The Salvation Army bucket, the guy who panhandles you, as well as making the commitment you do to the finances of your church, it’s much more than a 10% tithe.
By the way, a 1st Century Jewish Christian would have been insulted at the idea of only giving 10% to God.
That passage in the Book of Malachi is often used to goad people into giving to their church-That’s just plain wrong! The Book of Malachi was written to tell the Priests to straighten up and fly right. In Jesus day, many of them were snakes in the grass. They raked a profit off of the herds being grown and sold for Temple use, got a kickback from the sale of animals being sold, and money being traded in the Temple, and bought or sold appointments to Temple office. This even went to the point of stealing money out of the offerings to put in their own pocket or taking part of the meat that was given to God for personal use
Malachi was written as a stinging rebuke to these and other practices without spelling them all out.
Some questions to ask yourself to get a feel for this are:
1. John The Baptist’s father was a priest in the Temple, why wasn’t John there also?
2. When the priests came to check him out, why did he call them a “brood of vipers”?
3. Why did Jesus say that outwardly they were like “Whited sepulchres full of dead men’s bones”.
4. Why did Jesus say “My House shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”
Scripture commends giving, and strongly urges it with a right heart, but no where in the New Testament commands paying a 10% tithe. It is good and right to give substantially from a grateful heart-after all, Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us while we were still sinners, even enemies of God. Certainly we should give, perhaps much more than a tithe because we are thankful-certainly do not let someone give from a begrudging, or boastful heart.
Blessings Bill, you’re on the right track Buddy!
Rob
Good words, Jesus gave it all!
“Tithing is the training wheels of giving.”–Randy Alcorn.
Absolutely right; New Testament says it’s all His. 10% is a good starting point for most of us.