What Happened To Me
I have to start this off by saying that I am a church going, bible believing christian. I am a member of a church an attend regularly. I truly believe that God created the universe and everything in it and therefore it ALL belongs to Him. I do give a regular offering to the church. The church is doing God's work which some take money, and the money does belong to God in the first place.
Most of us who live in the United States have heard about Jesus, God, Heaven and Hell. Most of us have also either been to church and/or seen ot heard church on television or radio. And almost all of us have heard that god commands us to give 10% of all our income back to him through our home church. I have been hearing this as long as I can remember from more people than I can remember. The one thing I have not ever heard is a single pastor following up the claim of God commanding me to give 10% of my income to the church with actually showing me the command to give 10% of my income to the church. So I asked some of the church leadership to show me this command in the bible and they got deffencive, started skirting the request and never did show me the actual command.
Don't get me wrong. I am thankfull for God's provision and I believe that the money I have belongs to God. I in stewardship and I believe that God wants us to do certain things with what He provided us with. I also believe that God knows better than I do and I should be obedient because God has what is best for me in His heart. I was just having a problem with reconciling the scripture where God calls a man that does not take care of his family something along the lines of the lowest form of life with the claims of the church that if you give the church 10% of your increases then God will return it back to you 100 times over. Does this meen if I make $1000 a week and give my church $100 then the next week I will make $11,000. Does God really want me to give a tenth of all my increases, money, property, anything I get today that I didn't have yesterday to the church so my pastor can live in a bigger house, drive a newer car and send his kids to a good college even if meens that my kids won't have a place to live, anything to eat and don't get to go to college at all? Wouldn't this make me the lowest form of life in God's eyes? So I started praying for guidence and clarification.
During this time of asking for guidence I kept getting directed to the same five red lettered words in the bible. Jesus said while giving the sermon on the mount, "Seek and you will find" (Matt 7:7). So I started seeking.
Most of us who live in the United States have heard about Jesus, God, Heaven and Hell. Most of us have also either been to church and/or seen ot heard church on television or radio. And almost all of us have heard that god commands us to give 10% of all our income back to him through our home church. I have been hearing this as long as I can remember from more people than I can remember. The one thing I have not ever heard is a single pastor following up the claim of God commanding me to give 10% of my income to the church with actually showing me the command to give 10% of my income to the church. So I asked some of the church leadership to show me this command in the bible and they got deffencive, started skirting the request and never did show me the actual command.
Don't get me wrong. I am thankfull for God's provision and I believe that the money I have belongs to God. I in stewardship and I believe that God wants us to do certain things with what He provided us with. I also believe that God knows better than I do and I should be obedient because God has what is best for me in His heart. I was just having a problem with reconciling the scripture where God calls a man that does not take care of his family something along the lines of the lowest form of life with the claims of the church that if you give the church 10% of your increases then God will return it back to you 100 times over. Does this meen if I make $1000 a week and give my church $100 then the next week I will make $11,000. Does God really want me to give a tenth of all my increases, money, property, anything I get today that I didn't have yesterday to the church so my pastor can live in a bigger house, drive a newer car and send his kids to a good college even if meens that my kids won't have a place to live, anything to eat and don't get to go to college at all? Wouldn't this make me the lowest form of life in God's eyes? So I started praying for guidence and clarification.
During this time of asking for guidence I kept getting directed to the same five red lettered words in the bible. Jesus said while giving the sermon on the mount, "Seek and you will find" (Matt 7:7). So I started seeking.