LAW OR LIFE?

To tithe or not Is a moot point with me. Debating on how or when to give is a moot point with me. Whether it is the law or life is not debatable…it is a truth that is loaded with life.

I learned about tithing, first, from my father, who wrote out a check every Saturday evening, placing it in an envelope and leaving it on the counter in the kitchen to be picked up as the ten of us trailed out of the door to church.

I first learned about tithing as a biblical doctrine when I started going to a protestant church. I first heard about giving, though, from a young missionary who was trained by an old missionary to Live to Give…not Give to Live.

I have since learned much from the heart of Father and giving the way He gives.

Our benchmark is always His Son, Jesus, who leads us to Father’s House by showing us the way, the truth, and the life. We have mistaken this biblical truth for the way to heaven, but we have sorely missed the point of where Jesus, as a son, was taking His brethren.

The connection with the prosperity of Jesus seems to be found in His obedience. Father directed or asked…and once Jesus agreed, the fruitfulness of Father in that area was demonstrated. The only time that Jesus showed up to give and did not receive was when what He gave was rejected by those to whom He came to give. He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief.

He agreed to come into the earth as a man…He prospered with godly, covenant parents and a trail full of enough substance to take care of every need He and His parents may had and probably every thing they may have desired. We know He was not poor because His very clothes were a picture of His quality of life in the earth.

His parents told Him to come home at the age of twelve when He had a greater understanding of the knowledge of His assignment in the earth. The result was the prosperity of a solid healthy life filled with much wisdom.

His mother asked for a miracle when the wine ran out at the wedding. Jesus obeyed and water turned into wine.

Every place where Jesus said yes, fruit came forth. He not only had wise men give at His birth, but wise women continued to give of their substance as He traveled. These were not women who struggled financially, for the supply was enough to require a treasurer.

When Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, he was not interested in the return of his giving as he was in the honor of his giving. The spirit in which he gave to the High Priest reached into the generation of Levi..and beyond.

I have discovered in my life that it is fruitful to honor what and who Father honors.

Somewhere, in the understanding of this principle, the thought of planting a seed only to receive the fruit fled from my thinking. It is scriptural to give with that thought in mind. I never require or demand others to interpret the ways of Father in the same light that I do. I do feel an obligation to live out of the revelations that He gives to me that produce truth. I never tested this principle to see if it worked. I just sort of saw it produce when my thoughts were far away from giving in order to receive.

I did not teach on tithing as a pastor more than maybe once or twice…and that was only in passing. Yet, I had a 98.9% tithing church. People would send their tithes and offerings through the mail when on vacation or if they had to be away from church for their jobs. There was never a sermon of guilt or condemnation if you were not giving enough. Opportunity was presented for the people to give. Those who did, gave…and those who did not, did not. As a result, our church ran on a cash basis without incurring debt.

There were times paying the rent on the building was a challenge, but never an impossibility. I promise you that I am not a financial genius. There are times I have had to rob Peter to pay Paul. I have dug into the couches for pennies to complete a fifty-cent roll. Over the years, though, Father has shown honor for honor in a stage of development that I did not realize until I was much older and was longer in the ministry.

The bottom line has been the motive behind the “yes.” When I agreed to obey Father in giving, it always came back to me, but usually in trickles and through a long time of waiting, hoping and praying. There were times I did without while waiting. I always trusted Him…and it always came…just never in the flood I thought should happen, based upon what others were teaching.

One day I went to the mailbox and found a check someone sent me for $15.00. I had not solicited the money. I was not prepared for the money because, even though I was a minister, I had been a lousy person that day and did not think I deserved anything more from Father. I sat in my car and wept when I saw that His giving to me had to do more with Him, than me.