I will be giving a talk at church about tithing soon, so I was excited to get a free copy from Book Sneeze of Tithing to review.
The author shares his experience going around the country to interview different people (most are leaders of congregations) who are tithe payers. He shares their experience and thoughts about tithing.
He never says if tithing should be required, rather shares their experiences and lets you come to your own conclusions.
Some interesting insights I came away with that I will incorporate in my talk:
- In Malachi 3:6-12 it is the only place in the Bible where God says “Test me in this”
- I love the story where a preacher was looking for some land to establish his church. A family sells him their farm land very inexpensively. The family let him know that their father had always paid tithes and felt that it was honoring their father to give their lands to a church.
- I like the idea of tithing being like a stewardship.
“It is a deeper level of stewardship. It means asking, “What is my money doing to the planet and to the people.”
- A lot of the people spoke of the idea of how they are spending their money in general can demonstrate their values and beliefs.
“His father said that your checkbook tells the story of your priorities.”
- By donating money to local and world wide organizations we are linking ourselves together with humanity.
I enjoyed reading this book and it gave me a lot of good insights and ideas to add into my talk. It also made me think more about tithing and how I apply that in my life.
Interestingly, I am reading a book called “Money, Possessions and Eternity” by Randy Alcorn. (have you read his books? – he’s a fantastic author!). Anyways – he has several others books as well “The Treasure Prinicple” and “Managing God’s Money”.
He talks about tithing, and basically states that although it’s not a command per se for New Testament believers, it should definitely be something all Christians do …for the very reason that all the money we have is GOD’s money. All the possessions we “own” belong to God. Therefore, we’re only giving back what rightly belongs to Him. He considers tithing to be like training wheels – and that once we’re used to giving that meager 10%, that it will lead to greater giving, which is blessed by God. I’d encourage you to read those books too! 😉
When are you giving a talk? I am giving one this week, you will miss it.
Great thanks for the recommendations. That mirrors what the other book said. The training wheel idea and of course that all we have comes from God. 🙂