Giving

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We had a great Christmas and are very tired today :) God has really blessed us abundantly this month and I wanted to not only give Him praise for it, but also explain the reason why He has blessed us.

A lot of Christians seem to misunderstand what the Bible says about tithing. We did for a long time. At first, we only tithed occasionally and not 10% off the top of our income. We just either forgot or didn't think we had enough money to cover bills and such and tithe. We would hear testimonies all the time of people who gave out of their need, and how God blessed them for it. Most people know the story of the widow giving all she had in the offering. "And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called [unto him] his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all [they] did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, [even] all her living." Mark 12:42-44


Seems backwards, but God's ways are not our ways. He also teaches that when we give, are to give expecting to receive something back; that we are sowing seed into His kingdom, and can expect a return.

"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6:38

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Malachi 3:10

God wants us to be blessed and live abundantly, however He doesn't have any actual money in Heaven, He uses us on earth to bless others for His purposes and glory. I don't know where the idea came from that it's Godly to be poor and suffer- we are rich spiritually, but does that mean God is glorified if we don't have what we need to live and maybe some things we want on the earth?

"It is the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly." John 10:10 (a little paraphrased)

It is the enemy who delights in our suffering and hurt. Not God.

Anyways, so we started giving 10% off the top of our income back in the summer. Sometimes things were pretty tight and we didn't really see much 'blessing' from it. I 'reasoned' with God too- where is this blessing you said would come if we gave out of our need? But I knew He could not fail and was ever faithful. I knew He was with us and that someday we would see the result of our giving. Keep in mind, our goal is not to give just so we can receive back, we want to give, we have a desire to give all we can, and out of that God blesses us for our heart attitude and our faith.

So we 'kept the faith' and continued to believe that this was His plan for us. The whole month of December, our blessing came in. Through random checks, and special, unexpected gifts, we have received around $1500. That's 100 fold increase from these months of tithing our 10%! Also, when we bought our van, the way it worked out, we didn't have a car payment this month either, so we had some 'extra' too.

He is truly faithful even when we aren't, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The key though, is expecting a blessing, knowing that you are sowing seed and expecting to see a harvest, whether it be in money form, souls saved, or whatever. We certainly weren't expecting all this at the same time, but it came in His timing.

I hesitate to write about this subject, because a lot of people, especially non-believers get the wrong idea. Some might think we're using God or something. No- we are simply doing what He says in His Word, being obedient, and He wants to bless. He wants to bless you too!