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| Source: providr.com |
I'll be honest--tithing doesn't make any mathematical sense.
You give away money, only to have the money you need.
I mean, doesn't giving away money necessarily result in having less money? I mean, that is kindergarten mathematics!
Sally has ten lollipops. She gives away one. How many lollipops does Sally have now? The mathematically correct answer is 9, of course.
But not in God's economy, dear friend!!
I'd argue that Sally will have eleven lollipops after she gives away one.
How does this happen, you might ask?!
Well, I'd like to argue that it happens through a number of ways.
When we give, God changes our heart. We talked about this money-heart interconnection in last week's blog post here.
Because our heart changes, our desires change. Suddenly, when Sally finds she has nine lollipops, she actually feels like she has eleven. Through the new heart God has created in Sally, she suddenly finds that she has enough--not just enough, but more than enough. She is strangely satisfied. She finds herself content with her nine lollipops--even joyful I'd say--so much so that she feels like she really has eleven! In fact, she finds herself eager to share more. She wants to share so much, that she might even have to be told to stop sharing! (This is actually a biblical truth--see for yourself--check out how Moses had to tell the Israelites to STOP giving toward the building of the Tabernacle, or how Paul related the story about the Macedonian believers who were actually BEGGING Paul to allow them to continue giving beyond their means! See Exodus 36 and 2 Corinthians 8, respectively)
Another way that Sally ends up with eleven lollipops, after starting with ten and giving away one, is that it is a biblical truth that you cannot out give God. As we've discussed before, God actually owns all of Sally's lollipops and every single lollipop in the world currently, every lollipop that ever existed in the past, and every future lollipop awaiting to be made!
Soooo....because God owns every lollipop that has ever existed, He may choose to bless Sally with another lollipop or two.
Now, ask any regular giver and we can all tell you story after story about how we gave, and God turned around and blessed us in return. God takes care of His people, folks! Such a story happened in my life just last week. The kids and I listed a few toys online on our neighborhood yard sale Facebook page. We were selling one particular lot of toys for $10 and a neighbor of ours was the first to inquire about it and wanted to buy it. We marked it as "sold" and walked it over to her house that day, free of charge. (I didn't want to charge her money, and she is a single-mother to boot!) Well, the same day my son was biking around the neighborhood and found something crumpled up on the grass. He soon discovered that it was a ten-dollar bill! He rode around and asked the only person that he saw whether or not he had dropped something (since we homeschool, the neighborhood is like a ghost-town during the school hours!). He assured him that he had not, and so my son came home and told me all about it. After making sure we exhausted all possible ways to recover the lost money to the owner, I finally felt satisfied that it was ours to "steward." It was around the dinner table that night that we pieced together the events of the day: God saw fit to foot the bill for our friend who wanted to buy the toys! We honored God by giving something away to be kind to a neighbor, and He honored us by paying us the exact amount of money we would have received. This should never surprise us, really: God owns it all, right? But what a great lesson for us to discuss around the dinner table that evening, to increase our faith and joy in giving as a family!
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| Source: faithandpeanutbutter.wordpress.com |
Tithing ten-percent of your income can be a scary first step when you sit down with your budget and crunch the numbers. The math will never make sense. However, I can tell you, from personal experience and through the truths of Scripture, that God will bless you as you faithfully give to Him. His blessings may not be financial--they may be the priceless riches of a contented and joyful heart! Like we discussed before, test Him in this, dear friend! You can never out give God--He will take care of you as His child, dear friend!
"Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:10-12, emphasis mine
(For the answer to the mathematical puzzle pictured at top, check out this site!)
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