On my way home today, I decided to go for a walk in a nearby park... this walk evolved into an uncomfortably-reflective, self-analyzing confrontation of Julie 2010 by Julie 2011.
My mind flooded with fond memories of family and friends, career goals achieved, decisions made, regrets, relationships that have come and gone, lessons learned, sports teams... but for this entry, I will only speak to one of them: Giving.
The reason for this thought stemmed from Misa's sermon on Sunday, which lead to a discussion within my small group (L3), both talking about tithing. We plunged into a taboo dialogue that I believe - and hope – will leave me changed forever.
Giving the church 10% of your income. What do you think about that?
You're probably wondering, does Julie tithe that amount? – shamefully I will admit no, I don't. Perhaps not yet. But if you were to ask me, how much money I donated to charities, gave to those in need, used to buy food and snacks for the church and others, I will confidently say well more than 10% of my gross. Now here is my so-called “excuse” for not tithing the “proper amount”: I don't know how “the church” defined. Is it the building? Is it the gathering of people? Is it wherever worship happens?
I believe the church is more than just the building – it's people. “Giving to the church,” to me, means using our blessings – whether material wealth, skills/talents, time, energy, resources – to express love to others. Mind you, I'm coming from a mentality that says all material things here on earth will never really belong to me. All this stuff I have, it's God's stuff, I'm just taking care of it for now. So, quite frankly, what makes me more entitled to this stuff than the next guy?
That being said, if everything I have isn't really mine, then why not share?
Imagine... a world where everyone shared everything they had for the well-being of one another. We were taught sharing is caring as children... what happened? When did our toys become ours to conceal? When did we learn greed?
Disclaimer: I'm not saying that people who don't tithe or donate or whatever are greedy people.
My point is this... it's not about how much money you give to the church or to charities... it's not about what financial status you're in that dictates what you can give... heck, it's not even about the Bible saying we should give back 10% of our earnings... it's about where your heart is. Are you giving happily and graciously? Or are you giving it reluctantly and grudgingly? I'm sure if you were to grudgingly give your own parents money for whatever, they wouldn't want it. In the same way, I'm sure God doesn't want that money either. He doesn't want your money; He wants your heart.
I think the Bible asking us to give 10% is sooooo little in comparison to what is actually owed! And it's not just 10% of income, I think it's 10% of everything we have...! The act of giving income is probably to get us in a habit of giving regularly and simply being generous people. Perhaps we can look at tithing as teaching tool, if you will.
Or maybe I'm just a communist. Whatever it is, I think we as a wealthy nation, just needs to give more... and love it. =)
