God loves a cheerful giver!

Cheers!

God loves a cheerful giver!

Hope you are familiar with the following stories!

“There was a serious discussion among the currencies and coins inside the cash box. The 1000 and 500 rupees notes were proud that they will leave in the first week of the month to the jewelry and clothe shops and to pay the rent. The 100 rupees notes were glad that they will go to the grocery and vegetable shops. The 50s 20s and 10s were jumping that they will go to the autos and buses. Waiting patiently, the 50 paisa and 1 rupee coins finally asserted with pride that they will go on Sundays to God’s Churches as offerings!!!”

“A young man, say, John was struggling in his business. The Pastor advised him to give tithe from his income to God. One month he brought 50 rupees to the Pastor and said he got 500 rupees as profit. After few months he came with bright face and gave Rs. 500, saying the Lord blessed his business and he earned Rs. 5000 that month. After few months John came to the Pastor with a sad face. When the Pastor enquired, John said ‘Pastor, there is a problem. This month I got a profit of Rs. 50000”. The Pastor asked, ‘What is the problem?’ John replied, ‘How can I give Rs.5000 as tithe?’ The Pastor said, ‘We will pray’. John asked, ’For what?’ The Pastor replied calmly, ’Let us pray that your income should come down. When you earned a little, it was easy for you to give tithe. Now you find it difficult.’ John realized his mistake and offered his tithe with gladness.”

In many churches along with the offering song you hear nice(?) music of the coins dropping in to the offering boxes. Christians will justify saying that Lord Jesus appreciated the poor widow who gave only two coins. But they forget the fact that the widow gave all that she had! Luke 21:1-4. We live in the days when we hesitate to give coins even to the beggars. But we do not hesitate to give our children coins for Church offerings.

Giving tithe is a command of the Old Testament. Jesus said, we have to do more than the Scribes and Pharisees who were observing the Commandments – “I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven” Matt 5:20. This also includes the area of giving. That means, tithe is the bare minimum for a Christian. When calculating the tithe also, let us give from the whole of the family income ( without the IT Deductions. PF Loans etc.!).

Giving to the Church we worship is very important. At the same time, it is also important to support the ministries involved in evangelism, discipling, missions, literature production etc. Each one of us has to pray and decide before God about the way we give.

As EU students, we have to start giving from our pocket money. Our Virudhunagar EU Senior Advisor Prof. SPR Ebenezer used to say in the 1970s, “From your 5 rupees pocket money if you do not learn to give 50 paisa for God’s ministry, you will never give 50 rupees when you earn 500 rupees.”

As EGF members and EU Staff, do we give regularly to the EU ministry? Our family practice and my suggestion (not an EU rule ! ? ! ) is, we, all the EGF members and staff can give at least 50% of the tithe of our undivided income to our EU ministries. If we do that, the word “Deficit” will not appear in our news letters.

Deficit can occur in our ministries because of three reasons: People who are supposed to give liberally have not given. Or the money given by God’s people sacrificially is not spent carefully. Or we do not trust God enough to meet all our needs.

Paul has devoted chapters on Christian giving – 1 Cor. 9:6-18; 2 Cor. 8 and 9; 11:8,9; Phil. 4:10-19. Paul says in the context of money matters, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” – Phil. 4:19. “God’s ministry done in God’s way will never lack God’s support” ! Let us learn to enjoy giving to God out of our gratitude to God for His love for us poured out by Christ at the Cross. We will see the way the Lord meeting all our needs in wonderful ways. Glory be to God.


P.Jebaraj is UESI Staff based at Chennai as Secretary for the Departments of Church Relations and Christian Ethics & Social Concerns.