How Do We Give?

A friend of mine asked me about tithing. He believed that God wants us to give whatever we feel. Perhaps $20 a month or $10 in the offering plate on occasion. It is as if the Bible doesn't speak to the issue of money. Just give whatever the "spirit" leads you to.

There are all kinds of extremes to the issue of giving. Some say we should give in order to be blessed by God financially. The charlatans of TBN are a great example. Benny Hinn will not release his financial information. Why? They teach that the more we give to them, the more we will be financially blessed. So making false teachers wealthy demands that God reward us.

There are those who demand "triple tithing". Imagine that God demands we give 30% of our income before we are even able to give an offering is simply not taught anywhere in Scripture.

The Scriptural teaching is quite simple. Everything belongs to God. We are stewards. God therefore has setup a system by which we give back to God a tithe or 10%. This 10% keeps God's people in a state of humility. We as God's people are recognizing that our money is not ours, but God's. God teaches that the tithe is His and to take from it is to rob from God. To give beyond that amount is when we begin to "offer" to God.

There is a strange twist to this though. Even though God considers the tithe His, when we give it to Him, the Bible teaches that He will bless us. Imagine that. Before we even are able to "offer" to God an offering, God desires to bless His people for giving to Him what He considers already His!

Does this mean we will be rich in this life by giving to God? Perhaps not in the way we expect, for Jesus teaches also to store up treasures in heaven and not on earth. The real question is, "What do we desire to receive from God?" I believe Jesus should be our desire. He is our reward.

One day Jesus will return to reward His people. "Even so, come Lord Jesus, come!"