It’s time to change the question.
It’s time again to collect the offering.
For those of you unaccustomed to that word, it is the time when a plate or bag is passed around the church congregation, providing everyone the opportunity to give of their financial resources to God and the church. When the offering plate passes me by at our Sunday morning church service, my youngest daughter Serena comes running to my side.
“Mommy, Mommy,” she cries. “I need money to give to God.”
I open my wallet, find the change or bills to put in her hand, and she joyfully pours it out into the plate.
Every year, our family of seven makes a plan of how we are going to use our financial resources. We make a giving plan of how we want to share our finances with others within the local, national and international communities that we care about.
The loose change in my wallet that Serena finds is not usually part of that plan. But what is so interesting about her actions during Sunday morning offering time, is that she knows exactly where to come to get what she needs.
She comes to the source. She doesn’t worry there won’t be anything to give. She knows her provision comes from her father and me. It’s always there in the wallet.
And she has the desire to give. It gives her joy. There is always a skip in her step when she comes to my side.
Her joy confronts me, and I ask myself: Have I lost the joy of giving?
And that leads to a few harder questions: If I have lost it, have others lost it as well? Are followers of Christ in Canada giving joyfully? Are they giving at all?
In 2014, Canadians collectively gave less than one percent of their income. A guest column in The Toronto Sun in December 2016, stated that Canadians gave 0.56 percent of their total household income to charity, down from 0.78 percent in 2006, which was the peak in that decade. http://www.torontosun.com/2016/12/15/charitable-giving-in-canada-at-10-year-low
Tithing and Giving
At More Than Enough we often get asked about tithing and giving. As financial coaches, we look at a client’s entire financial picture, and the question “How much should we be giving?” is a common question and concern.
Like so much of what we teach at More Than Enough, this question needs to be asked in light of the heart issues around money and giving. Maybe it’s time to bring this issue back to the heart, and change the question we are asking.
Changing the question, just might restore our joy and passion of giving back to God.
Our typical understanding of biblical “law honouring” tithing is anywhere from 10 per cent of our income to 23 per cent annually. There is a lot of information on the internet around tithes, offerings and giving. It is enough to make your head spin, so I am not going to tackle it here. Let’s just say that percentage answers can be good and helpful sometimes on our journey of giving. We all need a good place to start. But let’s not forget the heart. And re-framing our thinking on tithing, might just lead us to joyful giving.
Seeking a black and white percentage answer might be an easier way to ease our minds, but it doesn’t always engage us with God. And here’s another thought: the New Testament answer to the question of giving is not 10 per cent. It is much higher. God gave us the answer when we look at Christ.
“If you want to give, give it all to Me. Give Me your life. Deny yourself. Die for others. Serve. Obey. Sacrifice.”
That kind of life following Christ is more than just 10 percent. It is 100 percent.
So back to the tithing question. What if we stopped asking how much we should tithe? Or how much we should offer? Or how much we should give?
The New Questions to Ask
Maybe we could look inward and upward and ask our Abba Father this: “Father where are You at work today? How can I join you where You are with the financial resources, the talents, the expertise and the time You have given me? How much should I be keeping? And what are You up to with the rest?”
These questions capture the heart around giving, and the heart relationship we can develop with the Father. When we look at the widow with two mites, she gave all she had, when she brought her giving to the temple. Jesus said, ”Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” (see Luke 21)
She gave all she had. Everything. One hundred percent.
Maybe it’s not about the rules around tithing, but about your heart around giving. Even if we gave one percent, or two percent or 10 or fifty percent, the real issue is your heart.
Giving is a Journey
Do you want to restore giving in your life? Do you want to restore the joy of giving?
Then develop a heart relationship with your Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ and His Spirit. He might give you a percentage to give, He might not. But He will ask you to join Him where He is at work, and there is nothing more exciting than joining Him there.
Serena should know.
She knows the source of her giving, and she knows the One to whom she gives. We can be just like her, giving with a skip in our steps and joy in our hearts, because we know. We just know the source of our resources and our joy.
Rebecca van Noppen is Communications Director at More Than Enough. She is also a teacher, home educator, writer, and woman who loves to pray. A lover of Jesus, she works alongside her husband Financial Coach Dave van Noppen to help others find hope and freedom in Christ on their financial journeys.