By Barbara Chafin, Guideposts '92
THEY TOOK PRIDE IN SHARING
We used to talk about tithing in our church. We would hear about it
at our church in Houston, Texas, where we lived for a time.
So at home we would look at our budget and try to figure out how tithing
could be fitted in with all our other expenses. It always seemed to
involve a squeeze and painstaking juggling.
After the war in Southeast Asia, many Cambodians resettled in the
Houston area. Our church ministered to many of them through a Cambodian
congregation that was part of our church. I knew how poor these people
were. They had fled their country with only the clothes on their
backs. Yet when we had a joint service and the offering was taken, no
Cambodian would let the plate pass by without putting in something, even if
it was just a penny. They took pride in sharing in the church ministry
because they said they had been so blessed themselves.
I was moved to tears watching them. To be able to tithe is a
blessing? If you're lucky to be alive and will never again take for
granted every bite of food you put in your mouth, it certainly is a
blessing. To have enough to be able to give some of it away...
After our experience in Houston, I thought about tithing in a totally
different way. I look at our expenses as our blessings -- because we can
afford to pay them. I put tithing at the top of the list instead of at the
bottom.
What a blessing to be able to give something away. Even if
--especially if-- it's one's hard-earned penny in the collection plate.
**********************
HEAVENLY FATHER, thank You for providing me with the joyful opportunity to
give my share in Your work. Please remind me to do my part, for You have
been generous to me. Let me not appear before You empty-handed but show me
how to give readily, fervently and cheerfully. I thank You for Your promise
that with whatever measure I give, You would cause others to give me. Yet I
don't give to get but because it is right and good to do so. Lord, let me
give honor to You when I give money and resources to Your work so that
countless might hear Your Word. So that I might be a blessing to others
too. Lord, while I can easily give when I have plenty, grant me the faith
to give even when I have little. All for Your praise, honor, and glory. Amen."
THEY TOOK PRIDE IN SHARING
We used to talk about tithing in our church. We would hear about it
at our church in Houston, Texas, where we lived for a time.
So at home we would look at our budget and try to figure out how tithing
could be fitted in with all our other expenses. It always seemed to
involve a squeeze and painstaking juggling.
After the war in Southeast Asia, many Cambodians resettled in the
Houston area. Our church ministered to many of them through a Cambodian
congregation that was part of our church. I knew how poor these people
were. They had fled their country with only the clothes on their
backs. Yet when we had a joint service and the offering was taken, no
Cambodian would let the plate pass by without putting in something, even if
it was just a penny. They took pride in sharing in the church ministry
because they said they had been so blessed themselves.
I was moved to tears watching them. To be able to tithe is a
blessing? If you're lucky to be alive and will never again take for
granted every bite of food you put in your mouth, it certainly is a
blessing. To have enough to be able to give some of it away...
After our experience in Houston, I thought about tithing in a totally
different way. I look at our expenses as our blessings -- because we can
afford to pay them. I put tithing at the top of the list instead of at the
bottom.
What a blessing to be able to give something away. Even if
--especially if-- it's one's hard-earned penny in the collection plate.
**********************
HEAVENLY FATHER, thank You for providing me with the joyful opportunity to
give my share in Your work. Please remind me to do my part, for You have
been generous to me. Let me not appear before You empty-handed but show me
how to give readily, fervently and cheerfully. I thank You for Your promise
that with whatever measure I give, You would cause others to give me. Yet I
don't give to get but because it is right and good to do so. Lord, let me
give honor to You when I give money and resources to Your work so that
countless might hear Your Word. So that I might be a blessing to others
too. Lord, while I can easily give when I have plenty, grant me the faith
to give even when I have little. All for Your praise, honor, and glory. Amen."
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