To Give or Not To Give…

I wanted to talk with you, dear reader, about a rather taboo subject in today’s culture but it is most certainly an important topic. I wish to tell you why my family and I give to our church and about the impact that it’s had in our lives. Please know that it is not my intention to write this in order to persuade anyone to give anything that they’re not feeling the Holy Spirit’s call to give. It’s just that several weeks ago I was asked to talk to my parish about why my family and I tithe and I’d like to share those thoughts with you.

I’d never been great at tithing or what I perceived to be “giving away my hard earned money” until I truly understood what it was I was doing when I wrote out that check… I mean, I was taught that it was the right thing to do and all that, but I would grunt and grumble under my breath and would ask myself “why does God need MY money?” Simply put, I gave money to my church because it was expected that I do so.

During my journey home to The Church, my wife and I had to take a really hard and honest look at our tithing/giving habits. There came a point when we decided that we needed to give on a regular basis and, more importantly, with joyful hearts.

 

“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with first fruits of all our produce; then will your barns be filled with plenty, with new wine your vats will overflow.” – Proverbs 3:9-10

God has no need of sacrifice since He is the creator of all things. However, I have learned that I, or rather we need sacrifice. When I really sat down and thought about it, I had to be honest with myself about my giving habits. I had to stop thinking about my money as money. Instead, I asked myself “What does money represent?” Money represents my work, my time, my effort, my sweat and blood, and even, to an extent, my hopes and dreams for my family’s future. In other words, the money I earn represents my life, both of which ultimately belong to God. In other words, this money I supposedly have doesn’t actually belong to me…

So what is tithing? I love how Bishop Robert Barron puts it: “This great act of returning to God what God has given to us…”

I’ll be honest with you in that the hardest part of giving was taking the first necessary step by actually writing it into our budget. However, once we made it fit into our budget, and after it became a regular occurrence for us, we found that we really don’t miss the money that we give away since, as I stated already, it ultimately belongs to God anyways…

 

“The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds, the world and those who dwell in it.” – Psalm 24:1

Once we started regularly giving, I came to realize that to give with joyful hearts was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be. Now, let me just say that we could not start out giving what we felt called to give right away… We had to gradually build up to that point by redesigning our budget and refining some of our spending habits in order to meet our goal. This was a HUGE step of faith for us, especially being on a 100% commission income… But I can say without a doubt that through our tithing/giving, the Holy Spirit has brought my bride and me closer together and has used this to strengthen our marriage.

Now, despite all of that being said, what has really made giving back to God, a true joy for us is this…

We realize that we can never give enough of a sacrifice to repay Jesus for what He did for us on the cross… Jesus gave His entire life back to The Father FOR US!!! The least I can do is return part of my life back to Him, and that’s exactly what tithing is all about for us. Our giving has really turned into a joyous act of sacrificial worship for my wife and me. It has become something that we even look forward to because  it’s such a powerful moment of trust in God when we freely choose to sacrifice something from our own lives by giving back to God in that way and it is such a blessing knowing that we’re helping to support the mission of His Church…

After I came to this realization, I took note of where tithing takes place in The Liturgy… It takes place just before the climax of The Mass and I’ve discovered something amazing about this… When I sacrifice myself, my life so to speak, by joyously and freely giving part of my income back to God… I am better prepared to accept and celebrate what Jesus freely did for me on the cross thru the re-presentation of His sacrifice in the Most Holy Eucharist…

 

“Your being increases in the measure that you give it away.” – Bishop Robert Barron

So, my dear reader… I do not write any of this to embarrass you or to try and guilt you into giving more to The Church… You should give what belongs to God back to Him, yes certainly… But more importantly, when you do give, do it joyously and freely. I promise you that if you can do that, you will experience a depth of God’s grace in your life that you have never known before…

Until next time…

Your Humble Servant in Christ,

William