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The Bible has more to say about money and our stewardship
than any other one subject.
I will share in this article how
I have grown in this area and also how I have regressed and
disobeyed God and robbed Him.
"Will a man rob God? Yet you
rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings."
Malachi 3:8.
The book of Proverbs and 1 Corinthians chapters
8 and 9 have tons of information about giving and receiving.
There is much discussion about the Old Testament pattern or
tithing and the majority of Christians do not practice tithing. Most
churches have less than 15% of their regular members giving a tenth
of their income.
We have a lack of knowledge about God's
promises on giving. Most of us are basically ignorant about God's
Word in the area of stewardship.
"My God will meet all your
needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians
4:19
This is one of the first verses I ever memorized about
money. I joined the U.S. Air Force at age 17, almost 18, and my
monthly beginning salary was $92.00 a month. That was in 1957.
Giving ten percent of that was about 9 bucks a month.
That
did not seem like a lot of money to give to the Lord. As I continued
in the Air Force for the next 13 years, my salary increased to
almost five hundred dollars a month. Wow, it seems like I had more
money then than I do now.
Of course when my wife and I first
got married our first apartment was 75 dollars a month and we could
go grocery shopping all week for about twenty dollars and come home
with five or six bags of groceries.
We lived in Montgomery,
Alabama at Maxwell Air Force Base, and our first trip to the grocery
store was quite an experience.
As we walked down the aisles
of the store, it was fun to figure out what kind of things we each
liked to eat. I shocked her, by visiting the meat counter and
picking up a package of pig's ears and throwing them in the shopping
cart. It shocked my new bride and we had a good laugh about that. (I
put them back on the shelf)
Well when ten percent of your
income is only fifty bucks, it seemed like that was not a lot of
money to give to God's work.
But as I grew in the business
world, and my income increased ten fold over the next few years, it
seemed much harder to give ten percent of an increased income. After
all, ten percent of $5000 a month is $500 and that is a lot more
than $50.00. So I was faced with trusting God or trusting in my
ability to manage my money.
Let's take a closer look at
Philippians 4:19 again. We have the option of looking that this
promise of God from two perspectives.
First is looking at it
through my bank account and my faith. My doubts and fears about
those pressing bills and all those needs that I perceive that I have
in my life.
Second is looking at this through God's bank
account, whose CEO is Jesus Christ himself. He is our banker, and
his account in unlimited. He is also very wise, and when our "loans
are turned down" we have to accept the fact that He has out best
interest at heart.
Oh, Jim Young, you man of little faith,
why don't you trust God? Why do you not believe that you cannot
outgive God?
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