Poured in Your Lap

A few years back, Shawna and I were having an ongoing conversation about giving. The question we were struggling with was whether we should give 10 % of our income before or after taxes. I can remember her asking my dad, “William, should we give 10% of our gross or net income?” His response was simple, but very impactful, “How much do you want to be blessed?” We wanted to give, but we also wanted it to fit into our budget just right. Our giving attitude was out of obligation, not joy. Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” God said, “Test Me.” This is the only place in the Bible I know of where God is giving us permission to test Him to see if He will keep His word. You see, God does not want us to be stingy with His stuff. He gives to us generously and He wants us to do the same. Besides, your stuff is not really your stuff, it’s God’s. He wants to bless those who are willing to bless others. Jesus says in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you.” What kind of instrument are you using to measure? Is it a teaspoon or a five-gallon bucket?

Now, just as we should not give out of obligation, we also should not give to get, but we should give to get to give again. So today I ask you this question: What has been your attitude about giving? Has it been, Things are just too tight to give right now,” or “I will see what we have left at the end of the month to give,” or maybe you are like Shawna and I were, giving out of obligation.

As we are beginning a new year, I encourage you to take God at his word, to allow Him to “open the floodgates of blessing” and “pour them into your lap.” I am so excited to see what God is going to do through His people in 2009.

-Will Tucker