When I was maybe 4 or 5 I was sitting in a church conference with my parents in a hotel ballroom with jade green paisley carpet, green covered chairs and dark jade and gold curtains covering the windows. It came to the part of the service where they collected the tithes and offerings and passed the baskets. My mom handed me a quarter and told me to put in the basket. When the basket came along, I quickly slipped the quarter in my pocket and passed the basket on. My mom, being the shrewd woman she was, caught the slight of hand and took the basket back. She said, "Why did you keep the quarter when I told you to put it in the basket?" I said, "because you gave it to me." "Yes, but if I ask you to put it in the basket and you don't, why should I give you another quarter?"
We see in the Bible that God expects a tithe from us out of obedience and out of trust. If we don't obey God's commands; if we don't trust what God says is true in everyday matters such as money and possessions, how can we believe we will be able to trust or obey when it comes to important matters.
Let's say I had not been a faithful tither, let's say I chose not to obey, let's say I did not trust God with my money. If I arrived at my present set of circumstances in this condition it would be nearly impossible for me to suddenly, honestly begin trusting God. I couldn't start at this point and suddenly believe that He knows what's going on, that He wants the best for me or know that He will provide for me.
In my current situation I'm grateful that Rebecca and I decided to make a habit of trusting and obeying years ago when the 'trust and obey' wasn't on such an incredible scale. We didn't just stand up after William died and say we'll trust God now because we have nothing else to do. We stand up and say God has been good to us for years and He still is, right now.
God asks us to put our quarters in the basket, we do, and he always gives us more quarters.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment