My wife and I volunteered at our previous church for an organization that helps struggling families regain their feet. They were allowing these families that were in between housing stay at the church overnight for a certain amount of time. It was a Saturday where most of the families in the program were able to leave and go do their own thing. These families were in this program for a variety of reasons. Some just made extremely poor financial decisions, some were divorced and the spouse got all the money, and some fell on hard times due to past behavior. The catch of the program was that the families had to be fully committed and abide by all the rules. These families hopped from church to church and stayed over night. The program put them through counseling sessions, only allowed them to leave to go to their jobs, and if a family had been in the program long enough, they were allowed to leave on the weekends. But one family didn’t have anywhere to go. It was just a mom and daughter.
Kacie and I spent a couple hours chatting with the lady and playing games with the young girl. They never went to church but we ended up running into her at service the following day.
We asked her how she liked the service and she said it was good except for one thing. She was not familiar with tithing and was very uncomfortable when they passed around the basket. She noticed others throwing in money and checks and she didn’t have any money to give. None. So she shared with us that she gave the only thing of value that she had, a nice pen.
Here I am, debating about if I want to even give this week and this lady literally gave one of the very few things of value that she had. It was deeply impacting for me.
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” – Luke 21:1-4 ESV
A tithe literally means 10% of earnings and there are many verses in the Bible which discuss tithing, this is also why the church typically puts a heavy emphasis on tithing. The church will also tell you that you should give your money to the church instead of another organization.
I absolutely agree that, as Christians, we should donate or give away our money, time, and possessions. How much and to who should be a continuous conversation between you and God. I am not one to tell you that you need to donate to a church, that you need to save for retirement or that you shouldn’t save for retirement, that you shouldn’t take out a loan for a house or a car, those are all things you need to work out with God.
I want to encourage you to take some time and pray about what He wants you to do. It could be to tithe financially, or it could be to give away the only thing you have of value (a nice pen), it could be to give to the church, or it could be to give to another charity that God has put on your heart. Whatever it may be, I think the right thing for you to do is to make sure you are following God’s plan in this very important aspect of Christianity.