Are you a tithing hitch-hiker?
1. Give to your local church first.
The Bible commands churches to meet the needs of poor believers, support widows and orphans, evangelize globally, pay pastors, and many other costly responsibilities. The financial contribution of members to their local church enables it to obey, and simultaneously grafts the members into a partnership in that obedience. Do you care for orphans? Widows? Do you evangelize the world? Well, if your church is, and you are giving, then yes you are.
2. Give regularly.
As frequently as you’re saving, spending, and investing, you should be giving. For some, giving resembles a the once-off ordinance of baptism. Rather, giving should be a regular part of your devotional life. For example, if you get paid monthly, give monthly (as opposed to annually).
Sometimes giving is done by automatic debit order. Though this is not forbidden in Scripture, it may miss the point somewhat. You wouldn’t spin a prayer wheel to pray for you (as many Buddhist do). And you wouldn’t play a worship CD on repeat instead of worshipping musically yourself, would you?
Paul singled out Sunday as the day the Corinthians should have given when collecting for a contribution. 1 Cor 16:2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
3. Give discreetly.
Don’t expect a plaque with your name on the pew. Just give. With the exception of the treasurer (or whomever is responsible for checking the bank accounts), none of the elders need to be aware of the amounts people give. This prevents the temptation for partiality (if someone gives much), or for judgmentalism (if someone gives little).
But as an anonymous giver, you should never hide behind the cloak of anonymity in order to be stingy and give nothing. Matt 6:3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
4. Give generously.
2 Cor 9:6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. When people ask me if they should give a percentage of their net income or their gross income, I reply, tongue-in-cheek, “Do you want net blessing or gross blessing?”
5. Give cheerfully.
2 Cor 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Do you think God needs your money? God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, all the money, and every other resource on this planet. He wants you to give your part as an avenue of worship. If you are reluctant and recalcitrant about your giving–don’t bother.
Give enough that you can be genuinely cheerful. If that’s a single cent, then that’s better than 2c grudgingly. Our God deserves better than that. On the other hand, if you give so little that you are ashamed before God, then that will also inhibit your cheerfulness. Giving is enjoyable worship when it’s done well. And, like Wii, if it isn’t enjoyable you’re not doing it right. Giving is about the heart more than the amount, as was made plain by the widow and her two mites.
6. Give sacrificially.
It’s not a sacrifice if it is not…you know… sacrificial. When Araunah offered to simply donate to David the land he wanted to purchase to erect an altar, David declined the kind offer and reached into his pocket.
2 Sam 24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
