If you have concerns or questions about tithing, click the "COMMENTS" tab below and share your question. Perhaps others are facing the same concerns or have worked through a similar issue.
If you have concerns or questions about tithing, click the "COMMENTS" tab below and share your question. Perhaps others are facing the same concerns or have worked through a similar issue.
3 comments:
Should I "plunge" into tithing if I'm already overextended in my personal finances?
Let me offer a few thoughts.
A. I heard someone say that if you're in debt you definitely want God on your side. It's a little works-righteousness-sounding for me, but I think there's some truth there. Go ahead and honor Him right now in tithes and trust HIM to lead out of debt.
B. When will we never have some sort of mortgage or debt, or when will have everything together financially that we can "afford" to tithe. Better to plunge in. God's real or He's not. If He's real, He'll help us.
C. Dave Ramsey offers an interesting insight: it's being a little melodramatic to say we'll need a miracle at the end of the month because of our debt if we start tithing today. In most cases if we sat down with a budget we could find enough to tithe. We always have enough money to support our passions.
Key Excuses for Not Giving to the Lord’s Work
Most of us would agree that giving is a worthwhile practice. But rarely is it a priority, much less an urgent matter. We all have plenty of reasons for putting it off until later, or not doing it at all. Below is a short list of the most commonly heard objections to Christian generosity, along with short responses using the Bible as our guide. More excuses and responses are available from Generous Giving by clicking here.
* The tithe does not apply to Christians today, only to Old Testament Israel.
It is interesting that the tithe is so important a part of the Old Testament but is rarely mentioned in the New Testament. From this fact, some have concluded that God no longer requires or expects 10 percent giving from his people. But the scarce mention of the tithe in the New Testament is evidence not that God expects less of us today but that he envisions far more. Because Jesus has accomplished our redemption and the age of the Spirit has come, so the New Testament logic goes, appealing to the tithe laws is unnecessary. The New Testament nowhere commands 10 percent giving, but John the Baptist raises the bar to 50 percent (Luke 3:11), and Jesus exhorts us to give 100 percent (Luke 21:1-4). When Paul writes that “each man must give what he has decided in his own heart,” he is not giving us license to be stingy, but urging us to freely give anything up to 100 percent. No, the tithe does not apply to us in the same way that it did in the Old Testament; it is only the starting blocks for a much more extravagant New Testament generosity.
* There’s a good chance my donation would be misappropriated or wasted.
Misappropriation of gifts is possible, but it does not excuse us from the Christian responsibility of giving. In fact, statistically, the chances of gifts being mishandled are actually quite low. If a donor gives to a ministry that has appropriate financial accountability structures in place, he can have great confidence that his donation will go to the right place. But if even a gift were to be misappropriated, it is the goodwill of the giver, not the faithfulness of the recipient, that makes the gift worthwhile. In fact, Jesus tells us to give even to people whose intentions we know are unethical (Luke 6:27-36). How can this be? The answer is: We give because the gospel is true, not because we have perfect assurance of proper financial management.
* I am up to my ears in debt. I cannot give now.
The Christian in debt has an obligation, not only to his creditors but also to God, to pay off his debts and, what is more, to stay out of debt in the future (Roman 13:8). But the responsibility to pay off debts does not cancel out the responsibility to give to the Lord. Specifically, the Bible tells us to give to the Lord from our “firstfruits,” that is, the first and best of our income (Proverbs 3:9). As Larry Burkett has said, the first check we write belongs to the Lord and no one else, not even a creditor. Perhaps it sounds harsh, but in fact, giving like this turns out to be in our own best interest. We refrain from giving because it feels financially insecure. But in fact, God promises that giving to Him is the most secure financial move one can make. If He gave up His own Son for us, surely we can count on Him to give us all things (Romans 8:32). For those who give, He will provide all they need at all times, even making them rich so that they can keep on giving (2 Corinthians 9:8-11). We should make it a high and immediate priority to pay off our debts, but we should also give whatever we can in the meanwhile.
* I am in the lower or middle income bracket. Giving is really the responsibility of wealthy people.
It may be only in the modern West, which has seen an accumulation of wealth unparalleled in world history, that we have the idea that only wealthy people can or should be generous. Ironically, many biblical examples of generous givers are very poor people (Luke 21:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8:1-6). How can this be? It is because these people were changed by God’s gospel of redemption in Jesus. They knew that God had been pleased to give them the kingdom, and as a result, they were not afraid to give away what little they had in order to store their treasures in heaven (Luke 12:32-34). In Scripture, giving is the responsibility of Christians, period. The high-dollar philanthropy industry is one manifestation of generosity, but just as significant are the sacrificial gifts of regular, low or middle income believers. All Christians can aspire to the kind of generosity that Jesus and the apostles praise.
* Stewardship is a lot more than money. I give my time and talents by teaching Sunday school and opening my home. I consider that to be my giving.
It is true that stewardship is a lot more than money, but it is never less than money. In fact, it would be fair to say that stewardship includes everything that we do in life. In this sense, all sin is poor stewardship, and the gospel restores us to good stewardship in all of life. So good stewardship includes things like church work and hospitality, but to withhold one’s money (even while doing these other good things) is to rob God (Malachi 3:8). Money plays a unique role in Scripture as a diagnostic tool for the human heart – where you put your money, there your heart will go (Matthew 6:21). If a Christian gives his time and talents to the Lord, but keeps his money to himself, then his heart is not with the Lord. By all means, we should practice service and hospitality, but we should take care not to withhold our money from the Lord.
The above article is from www.generousgiving.org
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