AJace,
Amen to that.
I did not go there, because I was speaking in the context of money management.
As a christian, I totally believe in the blessing one gets from putting Jesus first in your life, including the areas of Time, Atttitude, and of course money.
When speaking in a secular enviorment, tithing is not the first subject that I bring up, because to the world, tithing looks like a burden, when after you have enjoyed this christian life for a short time, one realizes the blessing of putting God first in your life in ALL things, including your money.
You can tell a lot about a person by looking at his checkbook. People get all hung up on this tithing thing sometimes. True stewardship is understanding that if I have given my life to Christ, God owns me and everything I own.......He gives it to me to do as he would with it. I tithe to show my obedience to Him and to acknowledge Him being first in my life. I find that when I do this, He blesses me more and more. He owns it all, and allows me to keep 90%.
God does not need my money, but when I invest 10% of what I have towards His work, and give it joyfully, I'm showing how important His work is to me, and I have found that He has blessed us abundantly for it.
Do all Christians tithe?.........no , they do not. They are missing a blessing. Some would say they could not afford to. Personally, I could not afford not to. God does not want anyone to give begrudgingly. Give what you can give joyfully, pray about it, and if one is earnest about it, you will find that a person cannot outgive God, and that God is looking more for a willing heart then a fat wallet.
Understand that even among Christian circles, this is a volitle subject, and there are easier and more appropreate Biblical subjects that would be more benefitial to discuss in a secular forum.
Anyway, in a nutshell, God wants you before He wants your money. His salvation is a free gift that cannot be earned by doing good, giving money, or anything but by understanding that it is a free gift.
His Love is unconditional......nothing you do can make Him love you any less, and nothing you do can make Him love you any more then He already does.
Well, time to go to work. Please excuse the spelling....I'm using Monzilla and it does not have spell check like Safari does.
Respectfully,
Frank D.
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