Yesterday, some friends and I joined an activity arranged by Willowcreek to pack meals for the children of the poorest of the poor. We packed thousand of meals for 72 kids in Zimbabwe for one whole year supply! Isn't that amazing?
Knowing that each meal pack only cost 15c (I estimate it can feed a kid for 1.5 day), I feel guilty about myself. It makes me realize how inadequate I am in giving. Yes, I give my tithing. I even take notes of what I earn just to calculate how much I 'owe' God (yea, I don't do that for any other reason honestly). So, I want to make sure that the 10% goes to God's temple (church, charity, etc). Why 10%? Well, that's what the Old Testament said:
One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. (Leviticus 27:30, NLT)
Now, what did the New Testament say?
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” (1 Corinthians 9:7, NLT)
So guys, it's good that I force myself to fulfill my 'tithing quota'. But God prefers those who give cheerfully (OK, this is not a reason to reduce your tithing). My point is if you are 'counting precisely what you should give' to God, do you ever think how it will be if God is also 'counting precisely how much He wants to bless' you? What if God says "OK, today's blessing is too much for you, let me take back some since you only gave me 9% this month".
So let's consider ourselves as the steward but not the owner of God's blessing. To where and to who we want to distribute it? The poor, the sick, the unbeliever? And remember what God has promised:
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. (Malachi 3: 10-12, NLT)
2 comments:
Aku setuju dengan yang kamu bilang, Ren. Aku juga sering ngitung2 tithingku (about 10% gituh). Dan selalu merasa salah seh, tapi kalo ga diitung itu selalu tithe-nya jauh lebih dikit. Jadi, masih aku lakuin juga :p.
Tapi disisi lain aku juga tau kalo mesti lebih generous, lebih open untuk donate/help others, khususnya kalo ada orang yang minta di pinggir jalan.
On a side note, aku seneng sekali bisa ikut serving bareng kalian. Ceceku juga pasti senang. Apalagi setelah itu kita sama2 ke gereja. I'm so happy! Pastilah pekerjaan Tuhan ^_^.
Yah.. pada dasarnya kita sama2 convicted juga tentang cara money spending kita. Dan aku merasa lebih berterima-kasih atas hal2 yang aku punya. Kalo pas aku ingin complain/grumble about something, aku ingat kalo aku sudah diberkati banyak dan yang aku punya/alami itu sudah baik sekali keadaannya.
Salut buat yang bantu nge-pak makanan untuk anak2 di Zimbabwe. That's a very worthy effort. Salut juga buat yang setia tithing.
I think activity seperti di Willow itu is very good karena you also spend some of your free time to help people who are less fortunate. Jadi tithing bukan hanya dalam bentuk moneter aja, tapi juga in terms of our free time, our knowledge, our influence/connections and our life.
Sharing your time is probably more difficult karena time is not renewable. Once it's gone, it's gone. You would like to think when your time is up, that it has been spent in making the world a bit better than before.
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