Dear Friends,
I was telling Bonnie that one of my pet peeves is pastors who use guilt to pressure their flock to give more, serve more, or whatever. Don’t take me wrong; I wholeheartedly believe in and practice biblical tithing. I encourage donating to worthy charities and recognize that service to our brothers and sisters in Christ can be a fulfilling practice. My problem is with some of the appeals I hear.
For many churches, autumn is the time for stewardship campaigns. I have attended churches where the stewardship campaign feels more like a “shakedown” than an opportunity to share in the development of God’s Kingdom. Rather than being presented as an offering of thanks to God that shows we put him first in our lives, the tithe is treated like a past-due I.O.U..
This past weekend, for instance, Bonnie and I decided to attend a church we had attended about seven years ago. When the pastor gave a sermon in which he proclaimed, “The reason many people don’t tithe is because they are greedy,” we remembered one of the reasons we had left this church in the first place.
Miriam Webster defines stewardship as … the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. As children of God, we are called to carefully manage the resources that God has provided each of us. Part of this management involves supporting the place we worship. But using guilt or shame to meet stewardship goals is manipulative and an insult to God’s grace. The apostle Paul offered this guidance in
2 Corinthians 9:7: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
For many, tithing is the “third rail” in religion. There was a time in my life when I would pretty much skip out on church services from late October to early December because I knew they’d be asking for money. But my attitude toward tithing started to change when I took the challenge in Malachi 3:10 and decided to test God by getting serious about tithing.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:10
An amazing thing happened. I stopped worrying about scarcity and discovered a new abundance in God. The floodgates of heaven poured out blessings I could never have imagined.
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
I no longer skip out on services during the stewardship season. Pastors, including my own, still drive me up the wall when they try to guilt me into giving more, but I try to remember I’m not giving to them; I’m giving to God through them and pray they will use my gifts for God’s glory.
In a recent message, Max Lucado offered the following, “Have you considered what an insult it is to God when we try to pay him for his goodness? Sly is the scheme of Satan! He causes us to question grace, to earn it. What is it God wants us to do? Just believe…believe the One he sent. And receive the gift he gives. ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.‘ John 6:29.”
After all, it’s not our gift to God that make an eternal difference; it’s his gift to us.
Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ
Because He Loves Us Press 