I hear much in the church community on the responsibility of tithing and the blessed consequences of tithing. I never understood it until I understood "stewardship." That it is not about paying for the church, paying the church, or even paying God. It is about how a person "owns" material goods. The Bible says that all in the world is the Lord's. So then, all that we have is already that of the Lord's, all our income, our crop. Therefore, from what I have read, I understand tithing is more of a way of forgoing greed, fear, and disconnection with the provisions of God. It seems more like a "thank you" than a "here - church this is for you."
In Luke, Jesus tells a parable about a man that has an awesome harvest - gets a major bonus. All his excess he stores away, which many today would say was very practical and wise. Yet, Jesus calls him a fool.
Luke 12:16
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’
So - he is a fool because his treasure was in his storehouses, in the form of grain. He found peace in having physical wealth, rather than in God. I don't think God wanted the man to be poor, but to know from where true "ease" and "merriment" come. Money can make us so happy - it can make us feel safe and protected and worry free about the future. But apparently, according to this parable, we can put too much stock in money, too much stock in material possessions.
Every time we get to the Benjamin Franklin unit in my American Literature class, we bring up virtues and morals. Franklin made a list in his autobiography of the 13 virtues he thought, if followed, could lead to human perfectibility. He also explained that he found it impossible to follow all 13 and ever reach perfection, but that one should try. One of the virtues is about giving to others and being frugal with money, so we always get on the topic of whether money can buy happiness. Students are usually split down the middle - they say at times it can and yet they are never sure if that is true happiness.
I would fall down that same middle. I think at times I expect materials items I buy to elevate my joy. I can be stingy. I can want to store my grain and spend my grain on myself. I want to keep my treasure here because I like my treasure. But I think giving, being about to let go of material wealth, with the faith in God to provide for us, not for our storehouses to do so, is what God wants us to do with that grain.
I am inspired by those around me, especially in Kyle's family, who find it so easy to give. Some members in my family used to fight every Christmas about how much was spent on each kid's present. A grandparent would spend $40 on one grandchild's gift and but only $10 on another gift, and this would send a parent into a tizzy. Christmas and giving seemed stressful. But I have experienced the effortless way some people in this world give. Just with a simple, "hey do you want this..." or "I thought of you and bought you this..." It is beautiful. I want to do the same.
I bring up tithing, because I doubted that I could afford it this month. Kyle and I have had a lot of expenses lately and it seems like more are coming. I was angry at Maryland, because they owed me money since June and I still hadn't received it. I filled out all the paperwork again, assured that I probably wouldn't even get the check before the end of the year. Sure, that we would be in a financial pinch, so much so that I wouldn't be able to give (even though I did go out and buy myself new shoes...ugh....my attachment to material things), I didn't pay tithe. Then, two days after I filled out paper work again, even though there is no way the new forms got to Maryland in time, I got the money. AND it was 10x the amount I was expecting. I was joyous and I knew where my praise belonged. I danced around my house singing Hallelujah like they do in the Southern churches. And in all that praise, I remembered my tithe. I knew I needed to give it. I knew I needed to provide for others with the store of grain God had just provided me. I had screwed up in not setting it aside when I got last month's paycheck, and more so in not trusting in God to provide. Yet, God provided for me. O, praise Him.
