A Stewardship Journey
Sunday, November 1st, 2009click here for past entries
A Stewardship Journey
Back before I entered seminary, I remember being sent by my home congregation to a stewardship event put on by the Lutheran Laity Movement. At this event, I was introduced to the biblical principles of stewardship, some of which I was hearing for the first time. There are two of these principles that still stick out in my mind.
One of these principles is giving the first and the best to God (Ex. 34:26). This means setting aside what goes to God’s work first rather than giving leftovers. I’ve come to believe that this is why Abel’s offering was deemed more acceptable than Cain’s way back in Genesis. Abel brought the first and the best from his flock, while Cain simply brought “an offering” (Gen. 4:3-4).
The second principle that I remember has to do with tithes and offerings. The tithe (10%) was presented as what belongs to God, while offerings were described as anything over and above a tithe. Indeed, tithes and offerings are described as two separate things (Deut. 12:11; Mal. 3:8), but I had never thought about it in that way. I resolved to do the best I could to give 10%, and while I was still living at home and making limited money, that was possible.
However, once I was living on my own as a student, money became much tighter. I still always decided ahead of time how much I would give, but 10% simply seemed too much. I came as close as I felt I could, and left it at that.
This continued into my first years of ordained ministry, as my income never seemed to be enough to cover all of the debts that I had accumulated during my time at seminary. However, eventually I got to the place where I felt I could give 10%.
As soon as I reached that point, an amazing thing happened. It was as if I suddenly had more than I ever had before. Really, I shouldn’t have been surprised, for this is God’s promise that we find in Malachi:
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing” (Mal. 3:10).
It became easy to give a tithe, and to go beyond that and give more.
Now, some will say that as Christians we are not bound to keep the Old Testament Law. This is essentially true, as Jesus boiled it down to one commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12). Generally speaking, the teaching of Jesus is given more weight than the Jewish Law. However, Jesus implies in more than one instance that we really should be giving everything (Mt. 19:21; Mk. 12:41-44). In that case, we would be perfect (which of course we aren’t J). So, in this case, you might like the Old Testament principles better than the New Testament ones!
What I have shared with you is simply my own experience in giving. If any of you have experience tithing on a limited income, I’d like to hear your story. My suspicion is that God’s overflowing blessing happens in that case, too, but I don’t have the real live story to prove it. In the mean time, I do know that when we live generously, we experience God’s generosity as well.
In Christ,
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