Are you positioning yourself for His blessings?
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.(1 Chronicles 29:11-12, NIV)
God is the owner of EVERYTHING
As trustees of the resources God has provided, He allows us to temporally use our possessions. Our wealth is only temporary. The Lord is the true owner. In Deuteronomy 10:14 this is made quite clear: “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.” Not just some things of this earth, but all things. Now if He holds these things and God is the true owner, should we handle things the way we feel they should be handled or the way God would want us to handle them? Of course, we should handle them the way God wants us to handle them. These instructions can be found in His Word.
If we are to follow Christ, we must transfer the ownership of our possessions to God. This entails a mind shift. The world tells us possession is nine tenths of the law and that we alone possess everything. A shift from a cultural view to a Godly view is difficult in an ungodly world. The shift is easy only when your change your perspective. Taking steps to align your thinking with God’s thinking does not happen overnight. The Holy Spirit must have time to work within your heart. I often say there are three conversions:
1) Your mind
2) Your heart
3) Your wallet
It takes time. However once it happens, your financial decisions tend to be viewed much differently than the world’s ways and thus become spiritual in every context.
Here are a few suggestions to begin this change of perspective:
1) Read over the verses I highlighted above and read them two times a day for the next month.
2) Pray, meditate, and memorize these verses.
3) Think of these verses every time you spend or make an investment/saving decision.
4) Constantly refer to your possessions (money, investments, personal items) as the Lord’s items. Say it out loud often. By passing ownership verbally and constantly, you will begin to develop a habit of transferring ownership.
We are ONLY “managers” of what God has given us
God chooses to distribute wealth where he sees fit. God chooses to bless one person more than others. In Matthew 25:15 we see this illustration: “To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey”. Why would God discriminate? He gave according to each person based on their abilities. The Lord not only distributes wealth and material possessions but also can take them away as Job learned. No material possessions can be taken to the next world and even Job understood this when he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” Even in Job’s darkest hour, he still understood this key principle.
Our purpose in life is to glorify God
The Lord will choose many ways to distribute wealth: inheritance, marriage to a wealthy individual, successful businesses, stock options, and successful stock market investments to name a few. God has entrusted certain levels of wealth to each of us according to our abilities. Handling these assets in a biblical manner is an intended purpose that God has for your life. Above all, our purpose in life is to glorify God and this includes our finances. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” Luke 16:10. What are you doing today to show responsibility with what He entrusts to you? How are you positioning yourself for the blessings He has prepared for you?
Whether you have made money mistakes in the past or present, each day is a clean slate. Learn from your past mistakes and move on. Commit to learning more about His principles and how He instructs us to handle money. Commit to educating yourself about financial matters (saving, investing, gifting strategies, insurance, tax planning, etc.). Seek a qualified financial professional who shares your faith and values. Refer to www.kingdomadvisors.org or www.nacfc.com to find a competent Christian advisor in your area. Most of all, commit to doing something! God wants you to take the first step so He can guide and direct your path.
This article was written by Jay Peroni, CFP. Jay is the founder and editor of FaithBasedInvestor.com, a Christian stock investing newsletter. He is an author, speaker, and financial advisor. He’s been featured on Crosswalk.com, TheStreet.com, at ChristianPF.com. Jay started FaithBasedInvestor.com to help investors find investments they can be ?”proud to own”. For a FREE report on how to screen your investments and build a winning portfolio, go to FaithBasedInvestor.com.
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]]>10″Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. (Malachi 3:10 NASB)
We’re going to examine tithing. In this post, I’m going to tackle the “How Much?” questions. This is where I take my inner accountant out for display. Don’t worry! This is not technical stuff. On the contrary, it’s brainlessly simple.
If you Google about tithing, you’ll quickly see that it’s quite controversial. You may see very passionate debates about it. This is ironic. While there are some Bible topics that are difficult to understand, tithing is NOT one of them.
What is a Tithe?
The word “tithe” itself means a tenth. Quite simply the tithe consisted of 10% of one’s income specifically designated for the support of the priest and temple/tabernacle/synagogue.
This is an area where many people take something simple and make it needlessly complicated. Giving less than 10% of your income is NOT a tithe. Giving that is not directed to the local church is NOT a tithe.
The Specified Purpose of the Tithe
Ok, so the tithe is 10% but how do you get the support for the local church purpose? Can’t I just take 10% of my income, throw it up into the air and whatever does not come done is God’s?
Nice try. However the word “storehouse” in the context of Malachi 3:10 (see above) relates to the temple treasury. Additionally, the verse states “that there may be food in my house.” Clearly, the tithe is used to meet the physical needs of the place of worship and the priests.
Gross or Net?
This is one of the most frequent questions regarding tithing. Ok, tithing is 10% but is that gross or net?
Let me make this real simple: the tithe is 10% of your GROSS earnings. Whatever your income is, just move the decimal point 1 position to the left and that is your tithe amount.
Let’s go back to the very first tithe mentioned in scripture. Abram (Abraham) just came back from a spectacular victory brought about from his personal army against five kings. Abram openly acknowledged God’s hand in the victory to Melchizidek, king of Salem and Priest.
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”And he gave him a tithe of all. (Gen 14:20, NKJ, emphasis mine)
Abram did not quibble over expenses. He took the tithe out of everything. (You can read the whole story here.)
Who Do You Respect More: God or the IRS?
Before we leave the gross vs. net discussion, I think it’s helpful to recall the words of Jesus when the Pharisees and Herodians tried to trick him by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar (government). Jesus’ answer was simple and to the point: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Mark 12:17; Read the whole account here.)
We may not like it but generally we don’t challenge the IRS’s authority to take out taxes from our paychecks before we even get paid. Shouldn’t we treat God’s money with the same respect?
10% Off the Top! Yikes!!
Do you mean to tell me that God requires 10% before I get anything? Isn’t that a bit steep?
No. First of all, it ALL belongs to God anyway. If anything, he is being ostentatiously generous by requiring only 10%.
1THE EARTH is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it. (Psalm 24:1, AMP)
Yep, the whole planet belongs to God. Not only that but the fruit of the planet (i.e. “fullness”). Not only does that field of crops belong to the Lord but the harvest does as well. God owns the gross and the net. It’s all His.
10%: What A Deal!!
We would be out of balance, however, if we focused exclusively how much is due to the Lord while ignoring what He is promising in return. Let’s take another look at that verse:
10″Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. (Malachi 3:10 NASB)
The Lord is essentially saying “I double-dare you” to test me in this. Take care of My house (local fellowship and priests) and I will take care of you even beyond your needs. The King James Version describes the extent of this Blessing as “there shall not be room enough to receive it.” The Lord in His giving isn’t quibbling about gross or net. He’s not holding back! He is opening the windows of Heaven and letting it flow to excess. There’s more than enough to meet your needs, your desires, and have plenty enough to spread around to those around you.
All this for the 10%. That’s pretty cheap!
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