Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. (2 Corinthians 8:11-12)I was in the jail the other day and a man who was attending a church in Kansas City, Kansas, told me his preacher told him that giving was never acceptable nor real unless you gave money. He didn’t have much money and felt guilty.
The preacher was wrong and foolishly so. The Bible never says that giving is money alone. His preacher had told him (or at least he had that feeling) that to give and tithe were synonymous, that both had to be money to be true giving.
What the Bible does say is that we are to be giving. But the New Testament never tells God’s people to tithe. In fact, the New Testament only talked about tithing in relation to Old Testament people or in telling Jesus’ listeners how hypocritical the religious leaders of the day were. They even tithed the weeds in their garden just in case God wanted that too (Matthew 23:23) but completely forgot the whole point.
There is nothing wrong with tithing. It is a good idea. You should tithe, yes, Jesus said, but do not neglect the more important things (Matthew 23:23). Jesus said that it is a place to start, that we need to be better than those who only tithed because God said to and that we should give even more. He didn’t mean to bust ourselves financially (2 Corinthians 8:12 above), but rather that our whole life should be giving. Giving is not a one time thing but a lifestyle, just like the rest of Christianity.
Now the apostle Paul did give instructions for how to give your money in 1 Corinthians 16:1, but that was only in dealing with filling a need when it arose. The church needs to have the money around to deal with bills and problems and not have to go scrabbling for it every time you need something.
But giving is greater than money. Giving is your life. Giving your life to God; giving your time, your food, your clothing, your effort, your prayer (real prayer, not just the little quickies you write on Facebook), your dedication to his word, your attendance in church, your involvement in that church. Your life, not just your money.
It is easy to throw a little change or a check into the contribution plate. Almost anybody, no matter what economic strata can do that. But it is not easy to put yourself in that same plate. To put your time and your heart there, your energy, your life in addition to your money.
That attitude in life is harder. It requires dedication and time spent in his service. And this is a hard culture to get time from people. People are so busy. But until you can put your life ahead of what you want, your money will not really count. Putting it before school and work, before TV and hobbies is what counts. Your school and your work will do everything they can to pull you away from service and real giving.
But just refuse. Give. And like he said, it will be given to you (Luke 6:38).
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