Outgive God

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Over the next few blogs I am going to be honest about finances, not because I think I am doing everything  right but because I know that over the years I have done many things wrong and had to learn these lessons the hard way and many of them I'm still learning.  Perhaps we can learn some lessons together.

I would like to begin by suggesting that, as a Christian, we give to God first then take care of necessities.   This one thing can make a world of difference. We often want to give after we have taken care of everything else. When we were first married, we fell into this trap.  I can tell you we never had enough, and it was hard to give to God.  We had bills, little income and children.  It was easy to excuse not giving to God.  After all, it not a commandment, “Thou shalt give 10%”.   The problem with this thinking is that, often after everything else is paid there is nothing left for God. The reality is that what we give to God is often directly related to how much we trust him.  It’s easy to give when we have it right there in the bank.  If, however, we have no idea how we’ll even pay our bills if we give to God then we have to trust him to provide what we need. I know this is not a popular stance, and many will be offended because I say this.  If we find ourselves not giving to God because we have bills that “might” not get paid what we are really saying is, “God I don’t trust you enough to provide the money I need”.   Along that line or giving to God is often in direct proportion to how much we love him.  When I really love God, I want to give not because I have to, but because I want to.  A few years ago, when I started working outside the home, I made a commitment to give God at least 10 % of my income.  I have kept that commitment and God has blessed me and provided me with more.  Then God said what about 15%.  I was scared because I was only working about ten to fifteen hours a week, at the time.  I stepped out and did as God asked.  God provided more hours, and I always had enough money for what I needed.  At this point, I have no idea what percent I tithe.  I only now it's more than 15%.  One thing I have learned is that I can trust God.  If he asks me to give it, then He will take care of the rest of the money. Either he will stretch it, or he will provide more.  One thing is for sure; I can’t out give God and neither can you.  I do want to try though.  God has given me so much that anything I give him is small potatoes. Think of all God has done for you. Give back to God out of love and gratitude for what he has done. Giving may be a small matter, but it speaks volumes about where we are in our spiritual walk with God.  If we can’t be faithful in this area, can God really trust us with bigger things?