It’s All Relative- Author Unknown
One day the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country. His goal was to show his son how poor people can be. He wanted his son to appreciate everything that they had and not take their wealth for granted.
They spent two days and nights on the farm of the poorest family the father could find. When they returned home, they sat in the study and discussed their trip. The father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
The son replied that it had been great.
“Well, did you see how poor people can be? What did you learn from the trip?”
“Oh, yes, I did see,” replied the son. “And I learned so much! I learned that we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”
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Financial prosperity is all a matter of perspective. To one person, what is considered a middle class income may seem like abundance, yet to another, a six figure income seems less than enough. What does God have to say about this? In I Timothy 6:10, we are told that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Notice that it does not say that money itself is evil, rather that the love of money is evil. In my own life, I have found one thing to be true about my finances. When I am content with what I already have and am being a good steward of what God has given me, He invariably begins to bless me with more.
Let me share another story with you. First, however, I must clarify something. The story is one of those infamous ‘blond’ jokes. I believe, because I am living proof of this statement, that blond is a state of mind rather than a hair color. So, those of you with flaxen tresses, do not take offense! I have very dark hair, but there are days when I am all blond! Well, I wouldn’t sniff a scratch and sniff sticker at the bottom of a pool, but….
A blond women found herself in a real financial pickle. Her business had gone broke and her finances were in crises. She was so desperate that she decided to ask God for help. “Oh, God, please help me! My business is gone and if I don’t get money soon, I’ll lose my home and my car. Please help me win the lottery!” Several weeks pass and someone else always wins the lottery. Ms. Blond loses her house and her car and rages at God, “Why have you forsaken me? I have lost everything! I have very seldom asked anything of You and now that I have, You don’t even help me! Why, God, why?”
With a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder, heaven opens up and the voice of God comes to Ms. B saying, “Ms. B, meet me halfway here! Buy a lottery ticket!”
Now, don’t you all go out and buy lottery tickets and say I told you that is how God will bless you financially! God does have something to say about what we can do in this area, however. Look with me at Malachi 3:10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”
From what I understand in speaking with several pastors, the subject of tithing is a touchy one for many people. I have even heard one man say that he thought it was ignorant and wrong for a pastor to teach on the subject and that churches should stop begging for money. I didn’t really understand this because I’m not sure where he thought his church would get the money to pay its bills if the congregation didn’t give tithes and offerings. The Bible speaks about tithing often and it was the way the early church worked also.
I know that thinking of giving 10% of your earnings can be scary. It was very scary for me when I first started tithing. I was a single parent working two jobs just to make ends meet. Often there was over a week left of the month when the money ran out. So, the thought of taking any part of my income and putting it in the offering plate was pretty terrifying. But I really felt God was telling me to do just that, so I took a step of faith and wrote a check for 10% of my paycheck. An amazing thing happened. Nothing changed that I could see in the amount of my bills vs. the amount of my paycheck, but from that day forward, I always had enough to pay my bills. To my natural mind, that shouldn’t have happened, yet it did!
But there is more to that story. It is amazing how God let me take what later seemed like a baby step in the tithing area, then revealed the next step when I was ready. A few months later, it popped into my head that what I was bringing home each month was only a portion of what I had earned and I began wondering if I was supposed to tithe from the take home pay or the full amount of my earnings for the month. The answer? Did I want gross blessings or net blessings? It took a couple of paychecks for me to write that new check, about double my usual tithe. Yet, when I did, the same thing happened: I always had enough for my bills. Some years, when it is tax time and I get the statement from my church with my total giving for the year, I am amazed that I still had enough for my needs, cause it is a very substantial figure!
Take a few minutes and google verses on prosperity and on tithing and see what God has to tell you on the subject. If you aren’t in the habit of tithing, I would really encourage you to take a step of faith and see what God has in store for you!
Have a blessed day!
Cellebrate Life 