OK, I had a great question yesterday and it lead me to the idea that there may be a lot more questions that you guys have about this whole money thing. Seeing as how I told a personal story without the luxury of time to fill in all of the details, I wanted to take some time to clarify some important aspects of giving.
What if I've been following God and I haven't tithed in a long time, do I need to go back and figure out what I owe and give that?
That has to be decided by God. He may want you to just start fresh, or He may be calling you to give a certain amount that would make up for it. Whatever the case you need to realize that it is all His and He calls the shots, all we have to do is recognize His voice and do what He says. This is not some big mystery either. Most people try to make it seem so difficult to hear God but the truth is you will know inside and when all else fails just follow the path of peace in your heart and get some good counsel from someone you trust can hear from God.
How do you know the difference between "Sacrifice" and "Irresponsibility"? Shouldn't paying your bills come first?
In my story I talked about falling behind on our house payment but continuing to give above my tithe. The reason that we did that is because Michelle and I had made a vow to God to give a certain amount. The bible is very clear on paying vows.
Numbers 30:1-2 "Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: "This is what the LORD commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said."
We made choice... instead of breaking our vow to God and using the money to help us get out of our situation we were going to place our faith in God to deliver us. Not only did He do that but He went beyond the immediate need and helped provide a way to get rid of all of our debts.
When it comes to sacrifice, look at where your spending your money each month, you might be surprised. Where there are areas that you are spending on things for your own pleasure, think about stopping that activity, whether it's movies or cable or eating out and give the money you would spend on that to God as a sacrificial offering.
Most importantly, if you and your spouse are in this thing together then you must both agree about the amount you are to give. You have to be in Unity.
I'll add some more of these as the week goes on... don't want to bore you right off of the bat.
Bill
It's not boring...every post about this is helpful! Thanks for doing what you do!
Posted by: Belinda | May 04, 2009 at 08:07 AM