The Hole.... part 2

Richard Stearns in his book. “The Hole in Our Gospel” shows why God required the tithe (10% of our income) in the Old Testament.
1. It provided for the work of God’s kingdom by supporting the levitical temple worship system as well as taking care for the aliens, orphans and widows (Deut. 14:29)
2. By giving the 10% it helped Gods people realize that they depended upon God not their own resources to get by.

He then shares a personal story.
In 1987 when the stock market had its largest crash since 1929, he and his wife lost over a third of their savings along with money they had put aside for their children’s education. He became obsessed staying up at nights worrying about the money they had lost.One night as he was stewing his wife came in and said,“Honey this thing is consuming you in an unhealthy way. It’s only money. We have our marriage, our health, our friends, our children and a good income-so much to be thankful for. You need to let go of this and trust God.”She then suggested that they pray about it, but Richard felt it was his responsibility and that worrying would work better. After prayer his wife then said, “Now I think we need to get out the checkbook and write some big checks to our church and the ministries we support. We need to show God that we know this is His money and not ours.”After the initial shock of such a suggestion, and following the dictates of his heart, they sat down and began writing checks. He shares that as they wrote those checks “…I felt the wave of relief. We had broken the spell that money had cast over me. It freed me from the worries that had consumed me. I actually felt reckless and giddy…”

There are to many people who say they cannot afford to tithe, personally I have always felt that I could not afford not to tithe.We have to realize that what we own is not ours but Gods and then we need to show God that we believe that by giving minimally a tithe (10% of our income).God blesses a cheerful giver.