This rule came about after the first time we wanted to "treat" everyone to a movie and the total bill was over a hundred dollars.
We now "wait" for movies to come to the dollar theater or Redbox.
Even at the dollar theater, we tend to break the rules because we"bring-in" all of the "goodies" to save a few bucks.
Well, more than a few, it is more like fifty bucks for drinks, popcorn and candy.
We do tend to buy popcorn so we don't look obvious.
It is a pretty rare occasion that we go to a "special" movie with the kids and really go over the top with popcorn and drinks.
Have you been at the movies, gotten everybody everything they wanted, gotten everyone seated and think to yourself, "Well, maybe I would like some popcorn after all".
You ask one of your kids for some of their popcorn.
You made the choice not to get any because it was too expensive, only to have them give you a dirty look and say, NO, it's mine!
Really!
You hold your tongue (hopefully), get an inch away from their face so the whole place won't hear the lecture.
This is when you say to your kid, "Look, if I wouldn't have wanted to bless you, you wouldn't be sitting here in this movie, with your very own popcorn, your very own candy and your very own drink!!
I didn't ask you for all of it, I asked you for a few handfuls!
Are we on the same page!!
Now fork over the popcorn!
To me, this is the perfect picture of how we can look at tithe or the lack of tithe.
I don't think the Lord has the whole attitude thing goin' on, but maybe this is how the Lord feels when we don't tithe.
Yet, when we do tithe we can't begin to figure out how the economy of God really works.
We always end up getting way more back in return.
I always look at it like a farmer planting seed.
Yes, I know that there is a whole group of people in the church today who don't believe in "tithe".
It's legalistic, it's old Testament...yada, yada, yada.
I know, I have heard it all.
You can give "offerings" when you feel like it because God is such a nice guy that he is good with it all because that's just how nice of a guy he really is.
Maybe.
He did say, prove me in this.
So here is my example of tithe...
Last week, we needed to pay twelve dollars tithe on a plumbing job Dan did.
I made our check out for an even twenty dollars and put it in the offering.
The very next day, I went to a garage sale at an interior decorator's house and she sold me all of this fabric for twenty dollars.
Maybe it was coincidence that I just happened to stop, she just happened to have all this fabric and she didn't have any of it priced and sold it to me for a fraction of what it was worth.
Maybe, but, over the years things like this have happened to me time and time again.
I think He enjoys a couple of handfuls of popcorn as well, not to mention the acknowledgement of the blessing.
10 comments:
so you so need to write a book of shorts stories or whatever these little words of wisdom that come to you- Sheila ps I didn't like the first part on how mean you were but the second part brings it all so clear thanks babe love you
I loved this story! helps me to remember how good God is to us.
We invent all sorts of clever stories in a bid to support the practise of tithing in today’s church but never want to look at what the bible says about it. There is simply no verse of scripture that mandates today’s church to tithe! No single one! And to tithe today would be practically impossible because true biblical tithe was always “A TENTH” not 10% of food crops and livestock from WITHIN the land of Israel!
22 “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. 23 Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored—and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God. 24 “Now when the Lord your God blesses you with a good harvest, the place of worship he chooses for his name to be honored might be too far for you to bring the tithe. 25 If so, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds, put the money in a pouch, and go to the place the Lord your God has chosen. 26 When you arrive, you may use the money to buy any kind of food you want—cattle, sheep, goats, wine, or other alcoholic drink. Then feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and celebrate with your household. 27 And do not neglect the Levites in your town, for they will receive no allotment of land among you. 28 “At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. 29 Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work. Deu 14
If you pay close attention to verse 28, you will see that it parallels Malachi 3: 10 perfectly! The storehouse in the book of Malachi referred to the granaries where these food crops were stored! So the call to prove Him was to the Israelites who were in the habit of disobeying His command and not to the church.
You have tried to prove the relevance of the tithe by your personal experiences. How about providing scriptures?
there is no mention of music with insterments in The New Testment, because there is none does that mean we are to drop all insterments? dont get carryed away w/ the small stuff.
By the way there are no elite in the body of Christ" look up Romans 2:11
Anonymous, that is so trivial and very petty and you have condemned yourself by your own words! Are we talking about musical instruments or are we talking about the relevance of tithing to the New Testament church? If you believe today's church should tithe, why not provide scriptures? I forgot, rather than search scriptures to find out if it is so, you'll rather search to find out if there are any elites in Christ. Please read your bible.
Elite in Christ,tithing is not what you find in the new or old testament,it comes from your heart. It is how we as christians can or what we should do as a gift and offering and a blessing to give back unto the church and God for what he has given to us, I feel pleasured and blessed to give back to missions,churches and God. It is not a debate it is a honor to tithe. I don't know what your understanding is on this or your hurt but I do know that God is a good God and He loves us all.Tithe or don't tithe that's up to each person,as for me and my house we give back to God wheather it be a tenth or ten percent. Be Blessed
Tithing comes from the heart? Says who? You or the bible?
No where in scripture are we told that tithing is the only way to give towards God's work. And holding staunchly to a so-called 10% rule is so legalistic and outside the New Testament concept of grace. What happens if God wants you to give more than 10% or less as the case may be?
And instead of providing scriptures, you rely on clever arguments and personal experiences to buttress your point. And this begs the question, are you allowing God's word to lead you or do you rely on clever logical arguments and personal experiences? Mind you, many fringe Christian groups started out like this.
I urge you to give this topic more study and rather than let this 10% rule guide your giving, allow the Holy Spirit to be your guide instead. God bless
Mt.23;23 "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay the tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith these OUGHT YE HAVE DONE, and NOT to leave the other done." KJB. These are J.C. words.
Since Christ sanctioned tithing then it ought to be practiced. GOD IS A GIVER AND HE WANTS US TO GIVE, many new Christians need a goal 10% IS A GOOD START. I agree we should not make it a law, because it is so legalistic but it is not outside the New Testament. If God wants you to give 10% or less, or more, as the case may be? Trust and OBEY HIM.
Christ teachings were not to confirm the law for a few days and than BE dropped. If we do away w/ this teaching (the Tithe) sectioned by JC just because it was part of the law, then on the same basis, we can do away w/ more of his teachings which were part of the old contract. The only parts of the law we have to reject as part of the N.T. are those that are not found in the N.T.
Mt. 23:24 "are we straing at gnats and swallowing camels?"
Some have taught that Jesus did away with the tithe since He did not specifically make it a part of His New Testament teaching. But in this instance, Jesus made reference to the scribes and Pharisees tithing and implied that they were right in doing so. The New Covenant did not do away with the tithe, but it did clarify what the motives for tithing should be.
Abram tithed over 430 years before the Law was given (Ge 14:20). Jacob also tithed approximately 300 years before the time of the Law (Ge 28:22). Therefore, tithing was a Bible principle that didn't begin or end with the Law of Moses. However, the Law of Moses did include tithing as a part of its commandments (Le 27:30-32) with stiff penalties attached for failure to comply (De 28:15 with Mal 3:8-9).
eliteinchrist I have gone to my strongs comentary and looked up the word elite and it dose not apear. Please let me know where and what version you read? T Y
I haven’t swung by in a while and I am quite bemused that someone is still being so petty with regards to the word “Elite”. I would not waste time humouring you because it has no relevance to the topic at hand.
LeenonJesus, you have raised a very interesting point but it is a point that simply would not stand up to the scrutiny of the Bible. No one has said we should reject the sayings of Jesus that are related to the Old Testament but in trying to fashion out a doctrine from the words of Jesus, it is important to know the context and whom He was addressing. Mat 23:23 is not a command from Jesus that all should tithe. That is as clear as day. The bible tells us that no verse of scripture is of private interpretation and out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses every word is established. To fully understand the context of Jesus chiding of the Pharisees, one has to look back into the Old Testament when tithing was instituted to fully understand Jesus’ rebuke. When God instructed the Jews to tithe, He expressly gave guidelines on things that could be tithed; crops and livestock from within the land of Israel. Garden herbs were never to be tithed! With that as a background, we see Jesus’ rebuke a lot more clearly; He was contrasting their meticulous tithing habits against their neglect of the more important matters of the law - mercy and judgement. And if you did a bit of study on those garden herbs - cummin, mint and anise, you will find out that they were very worthless items. This showed the great hypocrisy of the Pharisees, they were basically straining a gnat while swallowing a camel! Besides, Jesus had not yet gone to the cross hence all of the Old Testament rites were still in full force.
What if Abram tithed 300 years before the law? Did any verse of scripture instruct us to do same? If that is what you are trying to hinge this doctrine on, then we might as well include circumcision as that too was practised by Abraham well before the law. What about animal sacrifice? That too had been done right from the Garden of Eden. Does that now make these things relevant to today’s church?
You seem to think that tithing is the only way to give to God and once anyone speaks against the tithe, the person is against giving to God. Please read my previous comments as I do not want to sound like a broken record.
The bottom line is it is virtually impossible to tithe today no matter how hard we try and or self righteous we try to appear with attempting to do so. This is because the bible describes tithes as a tenth of crops and livestock from WITHIN the land of Israel alone. And these were to be taken to the place God had chosen and received by physical descendants of Levi ALONE. No where in scripture are we commanded to tithe money – it is impossible to tithe money. When it comes to giving in the New Testament, we are only told to give what we can afford willingly and cheerfully without any so called tithe being commanded.
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