Hazardous Giving! - (2 Corinthians 9:7b)

Do you write your tithe & offering check at the same time you pay you bills?  If so, that could be hazardous to your giving!  I don't know anyone that cheerfully pays bills.  I think many of us make out our tithe & offering check at the same time we pay bills and never stop to get a Biblical perspective or allow time for our heart to change.

I had the great privilege of serving with Dr. Adrian Rogers at Bellevue Baptist Church for a number of years.  Known for so many wise quotes, one that fits today's BLOG is, "God loves a cheerful giver.  That which is not given joyfully, God neither wants nor needs."

God is pleased when we take pleasure in giving our money back to Him out of love and obedience.  When we bring 10% of our gross income back to the church as a tithe, with love for Him in our hearts, asking Him to bless and use the tithe for His Kingdom work through our local church, it BLESSES Him!  It makes sense, after all, that is the attitude God took when He gave us the greatest gift of all; Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for us all 'because of the joy that lay before Him'. (Hebrews 12:2)  Hmm, when you think about it, when we give to God with joy, we are being imitators of God.

• When is the best time for you to fill out your tithe & offering check to your church?

• What can you do each time you write that check to put a godly smile on your face?

That's all for now, check back soon for more REDD-INK!

Christians Should Give Voluntarily - 2 Corinthians 9:7a

Paul had been raised in a strict Pharisaical home (Acts 23:6), and was taught to practice the Jewish laws meticulously, including laws concerning the tithe.  The Torah required Israelites to give a tenth, a tithe, of their income to the Lord (Leviticus 27:30; Deuteronomy 14:22).  When Paul became a Christian he learned the difference between following the letter of the Law of Moses and following the liberating Spirit of God.  Giving to the kingdom of God was not to be driven by a sense of regret, "Oh, I wish I didn't have to give THAT", or motivated by some fear-laden sense of necessity, "God will punish me if I don't give Him this."  Instead it was to be based on what a person "has decided in his heart" (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Likewise, Christians today are just as free in Christ as the redeemed Paul was.  Since we have died to the Law, with all its requirements, we are not bound to the law of the tithe.  Something much greater is to motivate us to give - Christ's love for us, which brought us out of death into life.  God's great gift of love on our behalf compels us to give generously and gratefully.  Rather than give only a tenth of our income, many of us are blessed enough that we can give more than that.  In hearts transformed by the blood of Jesus we are to decide what we can give as an expression of our love to the One Who gave Himself for us.

Question:  Do you think that we who live under grace should give less than what was required of those who lived under the law?  For the Christian, the tithe, 10% of gross, is the starting point!  Something to think about until next time!

Christians should give generously - 2 Corinthians 9:6

Taking an analogy from the grain fields that surrounded the city on three sides, Paul reminded the Corinthians of two of the most basic truths of farming: If you want a harvest, you must first plant seed, and if you want a large harvest, you must plant much seed. With these words Paul was instructing the Corinthians in two profound truths about the Christian life: first, giving should be as much a part of a Christian’s life as sowing seed is a part of the farmer’s life. By definition, farmers are seed planters; just as fundamentally, Christians are to be givers. Jesus said that we could give something as small as a cup of water in His name and it would someday be rewarded by God (Matt. 10:42). Secondly, Paul tells the Corinthians that Christians should share their money as well. And just as truly as with the farmer’s seed, a Christian’s generous use of money to support godly causes produces a generous harvest of blessing.

The Principle of Thankfulness

I want to thank God for the life of Timothy Biggers King. He died this week at the young age of 48. A godly Christian husband and father, friend and a hard-working steward at Brookshire’s Food Stores headquarters in Tyler, TX. Even though it was a short life, it was well lived. He will be missed. I give God thanks for what He accomplished in my friend’s 48 years here on earth and I look forward to an eternity of fellowship with him in the eternity of heaven with Jesus Christ.

We are still looking at Matthew 25 verses 14 to 30, where the Master has entrusted 3 stewards with certain amounts of money to take care of while he goes off on a long trip. When he returned, he called the 3 stewards to give an account. Two were faithful in the task, while the third was not. The text does not specifically give the reactions of the faithful stewards when their master complements them "Well done" and blesses them with greater responsibility. But put yourself in their place for a moment. Have you ever been highly praised at your work for a job well done? Have you ever experienced the exhilaration of completing a task to the full expectation of the one who assigned it? If you are a good boss, you should extend your gratitude to those who work with and for you or your department. Don’t just let them hear about it when they fail to meet up with your expectations. Tell them ‘thank you’ and when possible, the verbal thanks should also be rewarded with additional responsibility and rank in your organization. In this passage, the Master rewarded each of the faithful stewards with more.

The bottom line on this is that we need to thank the Lord for whatever He puts into our hand. Sometimes, we act as if we have a right to a certain standard of living. No. If it all belongs to God, only God has a right to any of it. You know when you think about it, all we really have are responsibilities. Therefore, whatever God gives us is more than we deserve. For what He gives, may we be truly thankful!

My friend, Tim King, is no longer here on earth. His time to accomplish things here on earth is over. Take a moment right now and thank God for what He has given you: life, time, a family, a place to live, food, an opportunity to work, the privilege of giving, .... all things.