Giving to the Lord Part 3: Getting Started With Our Giving
This is the third part in a four-part series on how followers of Jesus Christ should give to support God’s work.
In Part 1, we looked at what the Bible said about tithing and giving. We learned that the laws God gave to Moses required the ancient Israelites to give one tenth of their crops and flocks to God. Under the new Covenant, there is no firm percentage requirement for giving. Instead, we are instructed to give generously and sacrificially. You can read Part 1 here.
In Part 2, we established how much we should give. Based on the Mosaic Laws and two pre-Moses voluntary tithing examples, we learned that 10 percent is what God thinks is appropriate to support his work. Thus, although there is no formal giving percentage requirement under the New Covenant, 10 percent, the tithe, is still the golden benchmark and the goal we should strive for as followers of Jesus. You can read Part 2 here.
In this, the third part, we’ll explore how to get started giving.
The first thing you need to do is get your thinking right. To get the right mindset about giving.
Let’s get started.
The Biblical Money Mindset:
Its God’s Money, Not Mine: The first thing we have to understand is that we are not owners of the money we have. It is God’s money. He has given it to us while we are here on this earth and he has asked us to manage it for him.
Yes, we earned it through our labor. But God gave us the skills and talents and the opportunity to earn it.
Here’s how he puts it:
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18 NIV)
And we must always remember that all blessings come from God, including our income.
“Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (1 Chronicles 29:13-14 NIV)
Once we understand and come to terms with these concepts, giving is a lot easier. We are not giving away our money; we are giving away God’s money. We are doing His will.
As good stewards, we must spend the money as God himself would spend it. We must take care of our needs but we must also support God’s work.
God Wants Us to Have an Abundant Life: God doesn’t want His children to live in poverty. And he doesn’t want them to impoverish themselves through their giving.
God understands that we need money to live.
However, we need to make sure that we love him, and his son Jesus, much more than we love money or the things it can buy. It really comes down to priorities.
There’s an old adage that if you want more of something, start giving it away. If you want more time, donate your time as a volunteer. If you want more love, start giving love away to others. If you want more money, start giving money away to worthy causes.
This is how it works with God’s money. As we saw in Part 1, God promises to bless those who are joyful givers, returning to them many times what they give.
God Wants Us to Have Total Faith In Him: Being anxious about giving also shows a lack of faith. It’s like saying, “Lord, I can’t give because I don’t trust you to take care of me and my family.” Ouch!
God wants us to have unconditional faith in Him. The Bible is full of stories about people with incredible faith: Job, Abraham, Ester, Moses, and Joseph, just to name a few. They were willing to risk everything for God and many suffered great hardships that tested their faith to extreme levels. But they endured, and God blessed them for their faithfulness.
One of the greatest lessons in the Bible is that if we are faithful to God, he will be faithful to us.
By asking us to give, he is testing our faith and forcing us to look deeply into our heart. God demands our unconditional faith. If we don’t have faith, we can’t be a follower. It’s as simple as that.
God Wants Us to Give Joyfully: God want us to give joyfully out of love and gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. We should never give because we feel coerced or compelled to do so.
If you feel tightfisted and like you are being forced to do something against your will, you need to step back and work on your thinking. Search your soul and determine what Jesus’ free gift of salvation is worth. What it is worth to you to be able to spend eternity in unimaginable glory with Jesus Christ?
As a follower of Jesus, you need to get to the point where you value your salvation more than anything in this world and where you feel that 10 percent of your income is a small price to pay for such a priceless gift.
Getting Started Method 1: Take the 90-Day Tithing Challenge:
A good way to get started with tithing is to take the 90-day tithing challenge. Tithe for 90 days and see how it works out for you. See if you don’t receive great blessings in your life. If you don’t, then reduce your giving back to your current levels.
Remember, this is the one area that God allows us to test him on. He even invites us to test him (Malachi 3:10). So take advantage of that invitation. Test God. See if you aren’t blessed well beyond what you give.
One minister we know even offered a money-back guarantee when he initiated the challenge in his church. If, after 90 days, you hadn’t been blessed beyond your wildest expectations, all you had to do was tell him and he would refund every cent you gave in the 90-day period. He never once had anyone ask for their money back.
Tithing brings blessing into your life you can’t even imagine now. But you’ll never experience them if you don’t start.
So, try it faithfully for 90-days and experience first-hand God’s blessings in your life.
Getting Started Method 2: Start Slowly and Build Your Way to 10 Percent:
If you are unable to give 10 percent at the present time, that’s OK. God understands. Just start with something less and begin working your way up to 10 percent.
Take baby-steps at first, but keep moving forward.
And make a formal commitment to get to 10 percent, increasing as you can.
Commit to Improving Your Money Management Skills:
No matter where we are financially, we should all commit to improving our money management skills so that we can do a better job of managing God’s money.
If you are currently unable to tithe 10 percent of your income, improving your money management skills will go a long way to helping you get there.
If you are able to tithe, then becoming a better money manager will allow you to go beyond 10 percent.
And you want to always manage your money based on Biblical principles.
Most churches offer some form of financial counseling. Many offer “Financial Peace University,” the course by Dave Ramsey. This is an excellent course, based on Biblical principles. And there are other courses available. Seek out these resources and take advantage of them.
Remember, good money management is a Biblical principle that we all need to live by. It’s God’s money that He has entrusted to us. It is our moral obligation to manage it well.
Here are some other principles of good Biblical money management:
• Our giving must be systematic: We must do it consistently, every week or every month. No exceptions.
• Always pay God first: Always pay God before paying the bills or buying that new iPad that just came out. God must be the top priority in our lives, above everything else. Never give God what’s left at the end of the month. Give God our firstfruits. The best of what we have been given.
Some Examples of People Who Have Tithed:
Skeptics of tithing often suggest that tithing is foolish and will bring you nothing but financial hardship.
However, that is far from the truth. Here is a list of wealthy people who attribute much of their financial success to the practice of tithing.
• John D. Rockefeller Sr.
• Henry P. Cromwell, founder of the Quaker Oats Company
• William Colgate, owner of the Colgate Palmolive Company
• R. G. leTourneau, inventor of Caterpillar Machines
• James L. Kraft, founder of Kraft Foods
• Henry John Heinz, founder of the H. J. Heinz Company
• Wallace Johnson, founder of Holiday Inns
• Andrew S. McNair, owner of Swan Capital and author of the book, “Tithe: A Living Testimony”
John D. Rockefeller, the richest person in U.S. history with a net worth of about $340 billion in today’s dollars at the time of his death, began tithing on the first dollar he ever made and continued tithing for his entire life. It is estimated that he gave about $550 million to the church and other philanthropic causes over his lifetime, which would be almost $14 billion in today’s dollars.
And by the end of their lives, William Colgate, James Kraft, and Henry Heinz all felt so blessed by the practice of tithing that they had each increased their giving percentage to almost 100 percent of their salaries.
Summing Up:
Giving is an important part of being a follower of Jesus Christ. And we should all strive to tithe, giving 10 percent of our gross income to the work of the Lord.
Some will be able to start tithing right away. Others will have to start more slowly and work up to 10 percent. That’s OK. The important thing is to give generously from where you are right now with what you have. However, make a commitment to get to 10 percent and gradually work your way there.
And everyone should commit to becoming better managers of God’s money. Remember, God has entrusted us to manage his money for him. That is a great responsibility that we should not take lightly.
And 10 percent is the starting point, not the finish line for our giving. To be able to grow your giving, you must become a better money manager.
In Part 4 of this series, we will learn where we should give.
Stay tuned.
