I have been thinking a lot about finances recently...perhaps the result of having few finances...and I revisited a discussion I had about a year ago with God concerning money.
See, I assured Him that if only He'd bless me with millions of dollars, I would use a large portion of it to honor Him--do mission work, fund ministry, help good people that shouldn't have to worry about money before they do the good things they do. Of course, this is a naive outlook towards money...for a variety of reasons. That discussion concluded with the realization that God has not asked me to come up with the best plan I can think of for how I could do amazing things with resources from Him...but He has asked me to do what I know I should be doing today.
It was a humbling but important reminder of the most basic lessons of the scripture..."He has shown thee, oh man, what is good an what the Lord requires of thee; to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with thy God." To be told that all ambitions, all dreams, all aspirations are in fact not what the Lord has called us to pursue, and to see the simplicity of a righteous life enumerated in plain and obvious terms is both liberating and challenging. The honest truth being...I am so frequently distracted by my desires for more that this simple lesson is completely forgotten.
The most recent discussion on this topic has built on that old lesson. I have frequently heard from men that I respect that they wouldn't want to be millionaires. This has always been hard for me to understand, and the men being good men, I cannot believe this to be false modesty or eccentricity speaking...but I have also not comprehended what it was they found undesireable about having the means to accomplish whatever they could want. The other day, I was having a discussion essentially about that same simple lesson I had been reminded of once again, and my friend and I began to discuss the nature of our desire for certain types of employment and financial security. We speculated on how this desire seems to come almost completely from our desire to have the solution to our financial problems. We want to know that we have a plan to fix the problem, and the means to do so. As we both said the same thing, almost at the same time, we reflected on how that sort of goal revolved around a desire, if not directly, still unquestionably present, to remove ourselves from the constant dependence on the provision of the Lord. We want security so we don't have to ask the Lord to provide what we ourselves cannot.
From this realization, we began discussing the nature of tithing, and how it can be such a challenge to give, especially when you live as we live, where 10% is a sizeable and important chunk of the monthly budget. But we also both noticed how when we were faithful in honoring the Lord with our finances, the freedom we experienced when it came to our budget was amazing. Its an act of commiting our condition to the hands of God, and trusting that He will provide what is needed (if that is not always what we want).
It was at this point that a thought occured to us that surprised and challenged me. The joy of tithing when it is difficult to "justify" doing so is the dependence on the Lord that it inspires--which is exactly the thing we had just acknowledged trying to avoid, in a way, through our quest for security. So, we wondered, how could a millionaire ever appreciate that sort of dependence on the Lord? How could someone like, say, Bill Gates, ever feel the complete and total dependence on the Lord's provision that the widow with the pennies felt when she gave everything she had to honor the Lord in the temple? How can the man with everything feel the same complete need for the sustenance of the Lord? How can someone that has wealth to provide for his grandchildren's grandchildren behave as if every moment of every day, every cent that he owns comes soley from the hand of the Lord?
Its not that I doubt a millionaire could understand that dependence...its just that I suddenly realized for the first time how difficult that must be...since I don't understand that dependence even when I don't have almost any money. To grasp that, when you have almost no needs on a regular basis...that must be nearly impossible.
Hence my conclusion...I don't want to be a millionaire. I don't think I could handle it...I remember when I asked the Lord for money to do all sorts of things, I imagined feeling the freedom of giving so much because I didn't need any more...but that isn't what we are called to offer to the Lord. The first fruits belong to Him--the hardest to give, the best of the season...but the most liberating to offer, because when we offer them, we are free from the burden of trusting in our own means to provide for ourselves.
Regis...you can keep the money...I'm gonna walk.
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3 comments:
Chris,
you certainly have some good insight. However, I feel you are not getting the full benefit of your insight since it is at times mixed with religious traditions. I too was also taught that Christians should 'give like the widow'. You have got to listen to a free video broadcast. It is "The Truth About the Widow's Gift". It is available at www.inyourbible.com.
Also, the 'tithing' we are taught these days is far, far different from what the Jews were required to do under the Law. There is no longer a requirement for believers to tithe. A good place to start is www.nomoretithing.org. It aslo has links to 24 books and about 36 other web sites that all teach the same thing.
God is not sitting up in heaven giving good marks to those that 'tithe' and bad marks to those that don't. I certainly agree with you about our need to trust God.
George
i must say, i disagree with george... it is a requirement for believers to tithe, although it is repeatedly stressed through the bible that obedience is better than sacrifice.
i visited crystal cathedral on friday before going to the angels game. chris, i think you have a few things to teach them! :-)
George,
Thanks for the response. First off, as Amos mentioned...I think it would be better to say that the commandment has changed somewhat, but not that it has gone away completely. We are still to give offerings, or tithes, to the Lord. We should honor Him with our finances--not just because we support the ministries of the church (although that is what the original tithes were for, as they supported the Priests and essentially the entire tribe of Levi, responsible for leading Israel's worship; it also carries with it the significance of dependence on the Lord for our needs, as I mentioned in my post.
While I think you have a point--the Lord isn't keeping a tally of how much we give, I think He does know how we give, and why we give. Giving back to the Lord our first fruits is a commitment to trust in Him, not our own strength. I think its very clear that the Lord will honor that--not, perhaps in financial ways, but I believe we can trust that in every circumstance, when we honor the Lord, He leads us to those paths that are actually best for us, even if they are not the easiest or the path we'd prefer.
Ultimately, with regard to giving and most things actually, while the Mosaic law spelled out 10% as the amount to be offered, I don't think that's the standard we live under any longer. That was too simple, and it distracted us from the heart of the law--which Christ Himself proclaimed. We live in a new day...when the law is harder to keep, and obedience can seem more difficult--because its no longer based on just the appearance of things. Our offerings aren't limited to just 10%, just as murder and adultery aren't limited just to the actual actions. Its about the heart. If you're honoring the Lord in your heart...I think you ultimately won't be able to give merely the traditional 10%.
Hope that makes sense.
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