Enough for Every Good Cause

 

[1]

2 Corinthians 9:8 Good News Translation

⁸ And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause.

 

For many years we lived like the poor. During our graduate study years, we had to borrow against future service just to pay the rent and eat. A bit later we went on food stamps for a while. In Africa, we were often living hand to mouth. For five years we couldn’t afford a car. At Atlantic Union College I took on a moonlighting job to enable us to buy a house—the cheapest we found on the market. During this time, we paid a full tithe, and never went hungry or naked or homeless.

Since then, God has increased our allowance steadily. When our last child finished college, we were able to channel that tuition amount into a retirement savings account. When we paid off our house, we were able to channel the house payment into the retirement account. In this fashion, although we had been unable to save for retirement initially, when we retired, we had a nest egg that has seen us through the first ten years of retirement without embarrassment.

Since retirement we have stepped out in faith at the Spirit’s urging and supported Bible translation in an ever-increasing amount. We have not shirked our tithing responsibility. Last year our charitable donations totaled over 50% of our adjusted gross income. Never before, even in our wildest imaginings, did we ever think God would make us capable of achieving this goal.

This year we have expected that Satan would redouble his efforts to stop our giving. In January we totaled our car and bought a newer one; inflation is making our retirement savings stretch over fewer of our needs. In spite of this we are relying on God’s promises, like this one in 2 Corinthians 9:8, and God’s amazing grace to meet our needs.

We are grateful, Lord, for Your promise to give us “enough for every good cause.”

 

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[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/may/together-for-gospels-bible-translation-unity-illuminations.html

To Tithe or not to Tithe

[1]

 

Isaiah 25:1 King James Version

25 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

 

Alan[2] phoned me the other day and told me he had reached a low spot in his finances. “I have reached the end of my finances. I owe $100 tithe. If I pay the tithe, I will have nothing to live on for the next two weeks. What shall I do?” He was experiencing a major crisis of faith as well as finances. He has been paying tithe for the better part of a year, and all has gone well. Now he was completely at the end of his rope.

Immediately I thought, “Been there—done that!” I didn’t say that of course. But my life flashed before me in an instant. I remembered our second year as missionaries in Tanzania, 1968. The mission organization had miscalculated my salary the during 1967 and wrote me that they were going to have to take it out of this year’s salary. “We know you will need some money to live on, so we will send you $20 a month so you have some cash.” Even in Africa, that was a mere slap in the face. Yet God came through beautifully.

Years later, at Helderberg College in South Africa, the organization had forgotten to take out our U. S. Social Security tax for two years. It was calculated on what our salary would have been in the States. In Africa our salary was roughly a quarter of that. So when they took out the equivalent of 3 years SS tax, it left us very little to live on. Besides that, the country was experiencing double digit inflation, and we received no cost-of-living adjustments. But, true to God’s promises, we came through debt free. Then God organized, against our desires, for us to transfer to the States. That definitely turned out to be the best move for us at the time.

In the States we have been essentially a one salary family. Throughout our whole married life—58 years in June, we have tithed our income. Most of the time we have tithed after taxes. I have reasoned that my taxes go to finance various wars including Afghanistan and Iraq, support for unwed mothers, and welfare for people who choose not to work; so, I could not, with a clear conscience, count that as “increase”.[3] Even in the States I have seen our bank balance come down to less than $10. God has always stepped in—sometimes at the very last minute—to help us.

Now that we are retired, we are living very well. When I get concerned about what will happen to us if runaway inflation destroys our savings, I remind myself that God has never let us go hungry or without a home to live in. He will see us through.

I reminded Alan that in Malachi 3:10 God has urged us to “Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.”[4] If he chose not to tithe, God would understand, but if he chose to pay his tithe and trust God, he would experience a great thrill as God rewards his faith. This is the only point in our Christian experience where God urges us to test him!

Lord, thank You for challenging us to test You. And thank You for coming through time and again for us, often in the nick of time.

 

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[1] https://thechurchadmin.com/do-church-members-have-to-tithe/

[2]  I have changed the name and circumstances, but the experience is very real and happened within the week of this writing.

[3] Deuteronomy 14:22 (KJV) Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

 [4]  Today’s English Version (1982)

Tithe

  

[1]

2 Samuel 24:24

Good News Translation

²⁴ But the king answered, “No, I will pay you for it. I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing.”

 

All of us who have worked for wages know that our employer deducts various taxes from every paycheck. On our first paycheck, we may indeed have been surprised when we didn’t get the full amount that we had calculated we would receive. When Sylvia and I were in Africa as missionaries, the mission board also withheld tithe from our paychecks. It was calculated in such a way as to take out the most possible. When I inquired why they didn’t let me pay tithe voluntarily, I was told that then most people would not pay tithe. However, by doing this they were robbing us of a special blessing from God.

You may ask, “Are there different ways to calculate tithe?” Yes. One way is to take the gross salary before any withdrawals. Thus, if you earn $10 per hour and work 40 hours per week, your gross wages are $400. So, you would pay $40 for tithe.

A second way is to reason that your Social Security deduction is an investment towards your retirement. I reasoned that when I retired, I would pay tithe on my Social Security. I am retired now, and that is what I do today. Therefore, I deferred my tithe on that portion until I actually received it. Since the withholding for SS is 6.2% from the $400 I had earned, I would be deferring $24.80 towards my retirement. So, my gross income minus $24.80 is $375.20. My tithe for that paycheck would be $37.52.

A third and simplest way is to pay tithe on the actual value of your check. So, if the actual check you got for your week’s work was $312.00, you would pay $31.20 tithe.

If you are confused about how to calculate your tithe, speak to several experienced members of your church. This may include your pastor and the church treasurer. See how they calculate tithe and why they calculate their “increase” the way they do. (Warning: You will find that there are some high-ranking members in your church who do not pay tithe. Ignore their input entirely.)

No matter which way you end up paying tithe, do it faithfully. This is acknowledging God as the provider and owner of all. Your tithe to the Lord will cost you something.

Now read Malachi 3:10 again. You will find your after-tithe dollars go farther than if you don’t pay tithe. Try it! The Lord wants you to test Him on this matter.

In case you’re wondering how Sylvia and I pay tithe, for the 43 years since we have returned from Africa, we have used a modification of the second method above. We found that the Lord has blessed us abundantly. And we strongly encourage you to take the Lord’s promise about tithe paying literally. During our stay in Africa, when our tithe was deducted along with taxes, we didn’t voluntarily pay tithe. We missed both the feeling of sacrifice when we voluntarily pay tithe and also much of the abundant blessing promised to tithe payers.

We are blessed beyond measure by Your generous care for us, gracious Lord. Thank You!

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Give Without Compulsion

[i]

2 Corinthians 9:7 

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

  Ever since I was a young child, I was trained to return a tenth of everything I received to the Lord as tithe. It became part of what I had to do to be a Christian. God would not bless me if I didn’t do it. Then in my twenty-first year, I began to see God and His service in a new way. As salvation strictly by Grace began its gentle but persistent work in all parts of my life, I re-evaluated this aspect of my life, too.

 Pastors have told me that when a church moves from a religion of works to a religion of grace, its offerings go way down. Those who discover that “Nothing we do can cause God to love us more, and nothing we do can cause God to love us less,” means we don’t have to give offerings any more. Since I was in the habit of giving tithes and offerings, I didn’t stop. I continued that habit. Apparently, many don’t—many didn’t have that habit in the first place.

During the years we were “missionaries” in Africa, the mission board removed the tithe from our pay check before they sent me my check. It came out of my pay as a tax. I was “under compulsion.” I didn’t give a tithe during those years, and I personally experienced the loss in my very psyche. It’s difficult to explain, but it made me feel less involved in God’s great mission on earth—to give every soul a chance to be saved—even though I was a missionary and sacrificing in many other ways.

Why give then? After all, God has more than enough? When He set up the Hebrew nation, He designed that 11/12^ths of the nation supported the 1/12^th that were set aside to do the Lord’s work directly. Thus 1/10^th tithe would generously support the 1/12^th workers with extra left over. It is a real privilege to fit into a plan God chose to use. Furthermore, He has promised to bless those who do so far better than they would have been otherwise. Indeed, He has kept that promise in my life.

 I rejoice, Lord, for providing me a chance to participate in Your kingdom in a very real way.

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[i] https://changingwinds.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/to-tithe-or-not-to-tithe-the-moral-question/