The Reality and the Return

It has been a much needed reprieve from the world of blogging recently...most of the "bloggers" I know have joined me in the absence from internet release and I can't exactly say it was all for the same reason, but I can speak for myself in saying that it has been greatly utilized as a period of restoration in my heart. So I come to you, fingers placed neatly on home row, back slouched slightly, ears attentively hearing my good friend Jimmy Needham plucking the guitar strings and singing love songs to God; and I'm inspired...

I found myself in the "pulpit" of our junior high service on Sunday, a place I am certainly familiar with and have grown to love. I enjoy being with the kids, sharing the gospel with them, trying to make them laugh...but this week we talked about giving. Giving. Can you think of a topic that makes Christians and non-Christians alike so uncomfortable? After giving my own version of a sermon on giving I enjoyed hearing Pastor Dale Oquist speak on the same subject with wisdom and charisma...but parting the church yesterday I was left with afterthoughts. I am by no means trying to undercut anything that was said Sunday...I believe it whole-heartedly. It is hard to give...but we have to do it. But my thoughts on the subject sort of unfolded this way:

1) At some point I'd like to hear the story of someone who gave to God and didn't have enough to keep their house...but through it all God was enough.

2) Do we really do "automatic withdrawals" from our accounts because writing a check in church is too difficult?

3) Somewhere along the way I think we lost the attitude of giving as an act of worship.

Again, I want to state that these thoughts are not mutually exclusive from the sermon on Saturday, nor are they contrary at all to what was said...I just want to clear some things up. I do believe that when we give to God He will provide for us and that provision will be exactly what we need. But sometimes what we need isn't what we want- i.e. we want to keep our house even though we can't afford it; so in turn we stop giving. I always hear stories about people who wanted to keep all their stuff and still give and they always had just enough. Praise God for that...but some weird part of me longs for a story of a man who gave his tithe and his offering and couldn't afford his house or his car or his HDTV so he sold it all...but ultimately was more satisfied with a deepened and richer walk with Christ than everything he possessed. I think sometimes when we focus on giving as, "God is going to provide for me so let me put this out there and see what the return is..." we are left with an undefinable awkwardness. That's not the call, giving is not only our responsibility, it is our great joy to give to Christ- and it makes Him look glorious which increases the joy we experience. So with our new heart and desires we help others and we push back darkness and God is the center of those actions- not ourselves. That's why we don't "let our left hand know what our right hand is doing." God is made to look glorious when we give in the midst of economic turmoil and struggle with a joyous heart...

With all due respect to everyone who reads this blog (whoever you are- the one lone soul) I hate electronic withdrawal tithing. Ugh...it turns my stomach. Giving is worship- musical worship has hijacked our worship language and so we think of singing as worship- and when we don't even know when our tithe and offering are removed from our account I think we are missing the point. God doesn't need our money but our giving out of obedience and in joy glorifies Him. And to miss that opportunity for worship is stupid to me. Sorry if you are offended...

I'm pretty opinionated.