"One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered." --- Proverbs 11:24, 25
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Sometimes women tell me, " My husband and I can't afford to tithe."
To which I reply, "Oh wow, really? With Tom and me, we can't afford not to tithe."
Or it's like when--after a Youtube comment mentioning tithing--someone wrote, "Tithing? That's from those stupid prosperity gospel teachings. It's Old Testament, not New."
Good gracious.
All I know? For our 46 years together, Tom and I have always tithed. Always. Even during the lean years, even when wrong financial decisions cost us deeply, we tithed our ten percent.
And always, God provided for us, as well as, helped us make wiser decisions next time and even (I believe) made some of our stuff last longer than normal.
Some Christians toss away those 'bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse' verses and perhaps I can understand not taking them seriously in an obscure-ish book called Malachi.
But. How do you toss away these verses from Proverbs, the much-read, respected, and wisdom-filled book?
"Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine."
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine."
---Proverbs 3:9, 10
Wow. Honor God, give your first fruits, then your barns will be filled to overflowing? Sounds like a terrific promise to me!
And what's ramping up our reaping since 2022? Two things. I arranged for our tithe to be automatically given via my credit card. Too often months would pass since giving(!), then I'd have to go back, do some complicated math problems, then mail it in.
I'm thinking, God wanted more excellence in that area, as opposed to sloppy, I'll-get-to-it-when-I-can-ness. Yeah, most likely.
And the second thing? After viewing those long lines of hungry people on TV in 2020, we began giving to a local (dependable) charity that feeds folks in our community. A specific, hefty-to-me monthly sum that I felt God nudging me to give.
And that's when crazy and wild things began happening. It's as though God secretly poured money into our checking account, like, five extra paychecks(!)
And ever since, when things 'round Hobbit Cottage break or unplanned bills arrive, it's only a blip. Not even worth an eye roll. I just pull out a check and hand it to whatever guy in work boots happens to be standing in our kitchen (or wherever), then move on.
You know, in assurance that God will keep providing for us as long as we keep giving to Him, first.
Year after year after blessed year.
It's wild how God can multiply what we give Him! But yes, we must first, with faith, give Him something to work with.
Obedience. It matters now and in our far-flung heavenly future. Truly putting God first changes everything.
"Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered." --- Provers 21:13
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Dave Ramsey's Life Advice. This was cool.
I shared this years ago, but will again since it's still my favorite high school reunion video on Youtube. Helps that it's local to me, but even if you live whole states away, you may enjoy it, especially if you're of a certain age. シ
When God is About to Give You Something Big. Encouraging, indeed.
Oh, and did I already share this fun movie with Jewel?
I had a lovely birthday! A big thanks to those of you who helped me stretch it over four or five days.
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3 comments:
Amen and Amen! Dennis and I have done the same ever since we married in 1978. From the very first paycheck of our married life, we sat at the kitchen table and paid bills. There was NO WAY there was enough money to go around. BUT, the first check was always the tithe. Ten percent. And God blessed the other 90 percent to completely cover everything. Sometimes not a penny left over, but always enough for each and every bill. The math did NOT make sense, but it worked!!!
Now, we're like you. We still tithe on our social security checks and we have plenty to pay whatever we need. People say, "But you already tithed on that social security money when you paid it to the government". Because we tithe on the gross, not net amount. Well, maybe we did already pay it, but doesn't God deserve everything? Yes HE does.
Thanks for this post Debra and sorry I've missed a few weeks. Life got crazy with Mom and I just didn't even open my laptop. I finally wrote a post today for my blog and I'm trying to play catch up with all of my friends online.
Blessings,
Betsy
I have missed you! Came here last night to see if I had missed you.Happy belated birthday! Always enjoy your links.😊
This is funny and true. When I started dating my husband, he was faithful to attend church, but had not really been taught about tithing. I told him what the Bible teaches about giving, and I shared how God had blessed my mom and dad, even during some difficult times, and they always tithed, and gave extra offerings as the Lord led them. He was (and still is) pretty doggone conservative. I could tell he was thinking in terms of how much it would cost. Then I challenged him to put God to the test. And he did. And the Lord has blessed our socks off these many years. I like what Betsy said about how things don't even add up when you obey the Lord with your money. We've said the same thing, many times. The words to that old hymn that say: I have proven Him true, what He says He will do; He never has failed me yet. I also want to say thank you for those times I've requested prayers for my cancer. Although my labs have been worrisome (rising the past year), I had a PET scan last week and got word from the oncologist that it looked fine. Praise the Lord.
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