The Bible teaches us that TITHING is pleasing to God.
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns
will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” -Proverbs
3:9-10
“Remember this, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows
generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in
your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for the Lord loves a cheerful
giver.” -2 Corinthians 9:6-7
The Bible teaches that Sovereign God requires a tithe of all our labors. A tithe is ten
percent. “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘What you receive from the Israelites I
give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s
offering.”’ -Numbers 18:26.
“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees,
belongs to the Lord, it is holy to the Lord.” -Leviticus 27:30
We think of a tithe in terms of our money. We give our tithe, our money, to the Lord
through the church, your local congregation.
To many, a tithe, or ten percent, seems like too much to take out of a persons income!
Many struggle to make it from paycheck to paycheck. Giving ten percent of every pay
period is just too much!
I remember as a young child my parents discussing whether they could afford to give
ten percent of their income every Sunday. After some discussion, they agreed to try to
give ten percent and trust that God would provide for their needs. From that time, ten
percent became their starting point. And as they learned God’ faithfulness, they would,
from time-to-time, give more than ten percent. Though my parents were never rich, they
always had enough.
We value money very greatly. But as much as we value money, there is something of
even greater value than money. It is time!
Yes, time is more valuable than money.
Arnold Bennet once wisely stated: “You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.” Time is
our most precious, non-renewable resource, acting as the foundation for life,
achievement, and healing.
Every person is given twenty-four hours in each day. No one has less and no one has
more. Time is the unmanufactured tissue of life. It is God’s gift to you and me. It comes
to you with no strings attached. You may do with it as you please. Each hour is part of
God’s trust in you.
Some times the hands on the clock, for you, seem to stand still. Then there are other
times that the hands on the clock are racing on the Speedway in Indianapolis. In truth,
however, every second and every minute every hour is measured by God. We have
learned how to measure the movement of the sun as it travels around the sun. God is
the constant. The movement of the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the whole
universe is under God’s control!
We have determined that the earth’s rotation around the sun takes twenty four hours.
The twenty-four hours in each day add up to 168 hours in each week. Thus, a tithe of
the 168 hours in a week equals 16.8 hours for a tithe of your time.
So how do you handel a tithe if your time?
What follows is just one suggestion concerning giving ten percent of your time to the
Lord as a Time Tithe, You may find another plan that might better fit your life. That said,
one practical application is to divide this “tithe” in thirds. This equals 5.6, or five and a
half hours in each third of that 16.8 hours.
Let me suggest that there three areas, three things that we might consider for our time
Tithe.
The first is worship. We should give God five and a half hours a week of pure worship.
“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming
your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed
lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your works, Lord, how
profound are your thoughts!” -Psalm 92:1-5
“I will extol (bless) the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in
the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name
together.” -Psalm 34:1-3
Evangelist Tom Skinner likes to spell worship by adding a “th” after the “r,” thus we have
the word “worthship.” In other words, we tell God what his worth is to me, Worship
becomes worthship.
The quality of worship’s or worthship, is entirely dependent on me and my approach to
God. It is not dependent on the music or musicians, nor the preacher. Worship is a
demonstration of my gratitude for God’s constant love and goodness, God’s grace and
Mercy.
There is, also, more to consider than Sunday morning worship at a church building,
which we will call corporate worship. We should also consider family worship and
personal worship..
We should be spending tine worshipping God in all three types in worship: corporate,
family, and personal.
A second third of your time tithe might spent be in personal spiritual growth.
“Not that I have obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to
take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are
mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that
too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
-Philippians 3:12-16
The Apostle Paul, a very learned scholar, felt the need to continue his much desired
growth tobecome more like Jesus Christ. Forgetting what he had already learned or
accomplished, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of
me….but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what its ahead, I
press on…. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things.”
It doesn’t make any difference whether you have been a follower of Jesus for thirty
years or thirty minutes, we all must make it a priority to continuously grow to be more
like Jesus, both in our behavior and in our knowledge of Jesus’ teachings.
“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no
longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need
someone o teach you the elementary truths of God’s words all over again. You need
milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted
with the teachings about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by
constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us
move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to
maturity,….” -Hebrews 5:11-6:1a
What are some ideas concerning spiritual growth?
You must begin with a plan to be consistently reading God’s Word. Though reading the
Bible from cover too cover is good, there are many other plans for reading through the
Bible in one year. Reading good books provides important opportunities for growth.
Sunday School classes, Life Groups, Bible study groups, and such provide great
opportunities to grow with other likeminded persons.
From time-to-time you can find conferences, lectures, or retreats specifically oriented
toward spiritual growth. In a digital world, you can often find a television program, and
online lectures that pertain to spiritual growth.
Lecture series, such as the Newell Lecture Series held annually at Anderson University
and found on the Vital Words website, also provide great opportunities for growth. It is
not uncommon for adults to take a class at a local university to better understand God’s
plan for your life. Often, senior citizens can attend college classes for free, or at a
modest cost.
Long before beginning his ministry, Jesus asked his anxious and searching parents,
“‘Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’
But they did not understand what he was saying to them. (52) And Jesus grew in
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” -Luke 2:49-50, 52
Using time wisely allows for personal growth, while wasting it is esentualy wasting life
Itself.
Third, service is another thing to consider as being part of your timer tithe.
James 1:22 commands: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it vsays.”
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
“Wherever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human
masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” -Colossians 3:23-24
There are a multitude of possibilities for you to volunteer to serve as a representative of
Jesus. Using the plan suggested in this article, you have about five and a half hours
each week for serving as the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus.
The entire body, the congregation of the local church, should be about our Father’s
business. Unfortunately, 80% of the work in a local church is done by 20% of the
people, This causes burnout. Too few people doing too much of the work means that the
whole body is not functioning. It also means that if one person is doing too much, he or
she is taking a job that another person could step into. LifeChurch in Oklahoma teaches
that “Christians should not just be spiritual consumers, but be spiritual contributors.” No
follower of Jesus should try to play the game from the sidelines. All are needed.
One friend volunteers at a local food bank several hours in a week. Another friend
volunteers at a pregnancy center. The goal of the center is to help women of all ages
and circumstances avoid abortion and keep their baby. If the mother-to-be chooses to
gives birth, she is provided a number options should she decide she cannot raise the
child. There are a number of couples who are anxious to adopt a baby and provide that
baby with a loving home.
Many churches are almost begging people to be child-care providers in Children’s
Church and in other positions. The author of this article serves on a Prayer Team that
prays for persons who submit prayer requests to the church, then even reach out to see
if that person needs prayerful counsel or if there is anything the church might do.
Thomas Edison said, “Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the
only thing he can’t afford to lose.”
Churches are always looking for volunteers. What would happen if everyone in your
church would tell their pastor, “Pastor, you have five and a half hours each week of my
time to serve the Lord. Where do you want me to serve?“
There is enough power in your church to change your community! Will you be part of
that power? The ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tau taught: “Time is a created thing.
To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’”
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In
tithes and offerings. You.are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are
robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my
house. ‘Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the
floodgates heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to
store it.’” -Malachi 3:8-10
Benjamin Franklin said that “Lost time is never found again.”
.
Time waits for no one, making critical to invest in meaningful pursuits rather than merely
spending it.
Lost time is never found again. Benjamin Franklin
The future depends on what you do today. Mahatma Gandhi
The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. Mike Murdock
Time isn’t the main thing, it is the only thing. Miles Davis
Your rime is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Steve Jobs
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. Theophrastus
