This may be the wrong time to go in this direction, but this seemed to be the right time for me so here goes. Tithing and money are always tough subjects around churches. I guess the old sayings about commitment is measured by the pocket book, and how everyone is for everything as long as it cost them nothing, etc are true.
Anyway, I try to notice the weekly out go and in come at my local church. Sometimes we are in the red, and sometimes are in the black. The simply fact that we continue to operate and move forward, while being in the red some times, is the basis of what I want to share with you today.
The following personal story is not meant to justify anything, but as a base to explain my point in this post. With that understood let’s move on.
When I was in college I dated a girl that was Jewish. In hindsight I would never recommend that someone who is serious about their faith to date outside their faith. Such situations usually lead to compromise. I was very fortunate to not have that arise.
No problem arose because her faith was not a issue in her life. She did not practice her faith and she attended services with me. I never was ask to compromise or change my belief or actions because she did not have any problems with my faith.
I was very fortunate, and I truly believe that it is never good for someone who is serious about their faith to date or marry someone that is not serious about the same faith, or at least willing to get serious about that faith. My college girlfriend was never in either category.
Again let me say I would not recommend it or suggest it for anyone else, and I would not consider doing it again myself if I was single. It is however, part of my past regardless of how wise it was at the time. I consider it a example of God keeping me on the straight and narrow when I was looking around a bit.
The simply reason we did not have issues while dated was that she viewed her Judaism as a culture. To her being Jewish was like someone saying there are Southern, or Scotch Irish, or Cherokee, etc. There was little to no religious connection for her. She had been to synagogue school growing up, she had gone to Jewish summer camps a few times, and she knew a little Hebrew, but not much.
Her family attended services once a year and that was it. No more, no less, and that was their commitment. Basically she was about as Jewish as most Christians are Christians - i.e. Sunday school as a kid, a few retreats, and church a few times a year now with family. It is sad that we Gentiles fall into the same pattern as the chosen race of God. That however is another lesson for another time.
Anyway, her family was not involved in the local Jewish community with any depth. I believe that this was due to the fact that her father had been raised Catholic. To satisfy his mother in law at the time of marriage he had simply stopped attending mass, etc. It appeared to me that this action on his part to stop practicing Catholicism had been meet with a similar action by her mother to stop practicing Judaism seriously. To avoid any family conflicts they worked to appear Jewish on the surface to satisfy my girlfriends maternal grandmother.
My point in telling you this story so far was to get to the following two points. First, I wanted to explain that she had no real faith background so a life of serious faith was all new to her. Secondly, she was very agreeable to coming to church with me. To her church, and church activities, were just a normal part of dating me because church was such a vital and important part of my life.
The majority of the time we dated she attended Sunday evening services with me, as she worked Sunday AM on campus. She was fully accepted as being my girlfriend, and there were no negative reactions that I am aware of as no one seemed to realize she was not "Christian". She went to church with me, she went to singles events with me, she even attended a Sunday school Christmas party with me. This is relevant because she was never treated as foreign and was able to observe all facets (both good and bad) of my Christian life without being seen as a outsider.
Now I am sure that you are wondering how this relates to tithing. I know I know, get to the point I was just giving you back ground where you would understand the depth of this next statement - The only thing that she really found unusually or odd about church was tithing.
To better understand the power of the above statement, you need to know that when we first started dating she borrowed a New Testament from me to better understand my beliefs. She read it cover to cover and then came back and ask some very good questions. Now I would not go as far as to say she accepted Christ, but she did get a good understanding of who He was, how He lived, of the Old Testament prophecies He fulfilled, and seemed to even understand the need for His death on the cross. She even accepted His resurrection as completely believable, if not true. However, us Christians passing the plate was dumbfounding to her.
She explained to me that at her home synagogue, and I am not sure if this is true at all or not, there was a elder that stood at the door and refused to allow MEMBERS (visitors were always welcome she told me) to enter that had not paid their tithe. Apparently they sent all the members a bill every month based on 10% of their reported income. If you did not pay, you did not pray. The fact that Christian churches "trusted" people to give was completely awe inspiring and amazing to her.
I wanted to share this story to basically encourage you to continue trusting God enough to not require a bill to be paid to attend. I just wanted to share how much "trusting" attendees to tithe is a huge step of faith for and too many.
It is just assumed that most church attendees will not tithe as they should, and I am not getting into what is the proper amount, etc. What I am simply saying is that many decide that God is great as long as he is not in their check book routinely or too deeply. The simply fact that the body of Christ moves forward, and prospers, by not requiring attendees to give, but in trusting true believers to give is a great witness to the world that we have faith in our Father in Heaven to supply all our needs.
The application of faith to our finances is one of the most difficult things for most people. Yet, this simply act may be one of the greatest witnessing tools to the world, and one which we rarely, if ever, consider. We are proclaiming to the world by our method of giving to the church that GOD WILL PROVIDE.
I know that you may be really wondering why I wrote this. The simple answer is that I do not know. I just know that God really seemed to want me to share this. I encourage you to not let the bottom line become a trip line for those seeking Christ. The fact that many churches are in the red A LOT of the time, but that churches still make it and that the body is still visioning and working toward a bigger future is a great witness to the faith we have in Christ.
Have a great day and don't let the little things become big. Remember His will, His time, and His way.
