My husband jokingly says that when we remodel the kitchen we should hang a vinyl saying up of Leviticus 3:16 ...All the fat belongs to the LORD!
We laugh and laugh about that! But it's truly right! Everything belongs to the Lord! We simply are gifted all that we have by our loving Lord.
After working at a church now for over 5 years (my first non-secular job, ever), I have seen firsthand the way that a church body respects and cares for the bounty of goods and finances that the Lord provides. An annual church budget is merely people trying to guess what the Lord may choose to provide in a given year and how to best utilize that gift.
I remember my first real tithe as a new believer. It wasn't 10% by any means, but it was a sacrifice and a commitment of trust in the Lord. I willingly placed that $20 bill in the plate, knowing full well that I had nothing left until my next pay day.
We had fallen on very hard times, my first husband was out of a job and we had two kids at home. I had been denied food stamps and had the insulting experience of getting a food donation from our local food bank which consisted of a jar of Ragu, a box of spaghetti noodles, a cake mix, and a foil bagged garlic bread. I remember thinking, I had no eggs or oil to make a cake with, but at least I could make meatless spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner.
Just as my children were beginning to eat, I sat down, opened the bread (that I had merely sliced and placed on their plates), only to realize the bread was moldy. I will never forget that experience.
To this day, I always try to give good food to people and food drives as much as possible.
My husband and I have absolutely nothing to do with the church finances, and we like it that way! It is all handled by our treasurer, financial secretary, and the church board members. We don't want to know what people do (or don't) give. It's just best that way.
However, it seems that more and more, people do not understand the importance of faithful giving and how it directly impacts the operation of the church. It amazes me how many times, lights are left on, ac/furnace units are cranked up and left running, and doors are not shut properly in any given day at the church. I and my husband regularly go around shutting things off at the church. Or how many people contact a church asking for money. I often want to say, we're a church, not a bank. But I don't!
Even when I was living in those hard times, I didn't ask the church for money. It just didn't seem right. After I got saved, I want to serve the church, not have the church serve me. I literally volunteered to clean the church and found it to be a sweet time of fellowship with the Lord, just me and Him cleaning.
But that doesn't seem to be the norm in todays world. Take last Sunday, we had to cancel church services, because of the weather. It's always a hard call, and my husband left it up to the deacon's to decide. Because on those extreme mornings, its really hard to expect trustees and others to brave the bad weather and get the church opened up and ready. So church was cancelled, which means, no offering was taken. Its no surprise that a missed Sunday offering will never be completely made up financially. It shows in the bottom line, every time.
I found this page online all about tithes and offerings and found it to be very enlightening. http://www.raptureready.com/resource/aycock/tithing.htm#a4 (I am not familiar with this website and cannot endorse it). Its clear that giving to the Lord is more a heart matter than a financial one. God wants our trust in Him, solely.
So many times, the Lord has surprised me over the years,with His provision! It never gets old! God has my back and my heart! I am so very thankful!
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