“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”                      Malachi 3:10

A photo of a restaurant receipt posted on the internet shows a bill for $34.93 that included an automatic 18 percent gratuity of $6.29 for an additional tip. Writing his sentiments on the receipt, the diner pens this thought – “I give God 10%; why do you get 18?” The person scratched out the amount for the automatic tip, then wrote an emphatic “0” in that space on the bill.  The receipt was part of a total bill of over $200 for a large group where it has become common practice to automatically include the gratuity. Beginning in 2014, the IRS started to crackdown on this exercise, stating that this type of automatic addition to parties in large groups must be counted as wages.  The new rule will prevent the waiter from taking home this tip on the day it is paid.

In 2013, the TV news journal 60 Minutes featured an interview with Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates. The segment reported a “golden age of philanthropy” as part of “an ambitious and targeted campaign.”  The movement requires a commitment known as ‘The Giving Pledge’ in which the world’s wealthiest individuals and families dedicate the majority of their wealth to benevolent or charitable causes.  Membership comes with just two requirements: be worth at least a billion dollars and be willing to give half of that away.

So here’s a good question to ponder:  Who will be more blessed, a widow who places her only remaining dollar for the month into the collection plate or the multi-billionaire who donates half of his wealth?  This is the kind of question Jesus asked and the lesson he, in fact, taught when he said, “They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-43).  This, of course, does not diminish the fact that persons of wealth are sometimes moved to share great sums of their treasure with others who are less fortunate.  Andrew Carnegie said, “He who dies rich dies disgraced.”

Bottom line for the Christian, our giving needs to be motivated through a desire to serve God.  It is, in and of itself, an act of worship. We should do it without purpose except to say that in doing so we declare ‘God is first in my life.’ Our practices must include giving with a cheerful heart (2 Corinthians 9:7), being private about our generous acts (Matthew 6:3-4), and offering ourselves through other deeds of service (1 Peter 4:10). We therefore “honor the Lord…with the first fruits” (Proverbs 3:9-10).  And the harvest from the vineyard will yield the finest new wine that we will come to realize all  belonged to Him in the first place.

REFLECTION:  What kind of giver are you?  What motivates your tithes and other offerings?  Do you see the tithe to be the extent of your obligation, or is it a starting point?  Finally ask the question, is Christ really first in my life or do I put myself and my own desires first?

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