Just blogging right along! I am wanting to finish this book so I keep plugging away at it! Anyway, the very sensitive and hot-button topic of tithing was VERY well addressed by Alcorn. He really set it up well in chapter 11 by reminding us that we are only pilgrims in this world - SO LIVE LIKE IT IS TRUE! The more we have here on earth, the more likely we are to forget that we are citizens of heaven and the more we will be distracted and burdened by them. I thought the illustration of going on a bike trip was very good as I'm visual. I can see that lugging around too many things would be ridiculous and would hinder me from finishing the trip out. Or I have that visual of a race before me where everything is really stripped down to a minimum in order to run the race well and not be burdened or slowed down by unnecessary baggage.
So, then we hit chapter 12 on tithing. When I first heard that people still tithed, I was very taken aback. I had exactly the same arguments against tithing as he had laid out - OT legalism, now under grace, doesn't apply to us now, bondage - but the jury's out - Christians under grace as a whole (and I included!) have given less than the poor Jews who were under the law. His suggestion of making the 1/10th a STARTING point is excellent - and we intend to start now. At first, I tried to argue with God - ok, we'll start this but maybe we can use half of that toward our debts so that it's like helping out a Christian in need? Then I read this on pg. 188: Is God responsible for my unwise or greedy decisions that may have put me there?" and then: you are "not God, and you are not the church." Yikes!!! There goes that argument!
Then, I was very encouraged by 2 situations: First, realizing that if we had to take a 10% paycut, we will more than survive, RIGHT? wouldn't like it very much, but we could make adjustments to make it work! Second, so what if we're short just a few hundred dollars? Is my God so small that He couldn't compensate that little of a shortfall? Where's my faith? Where am I trusting Him? Wow. That was SO convicting and SO exciting because I can see how foolish I've been! I can anticipate God meeting my needs in wonderful ways!
Finally, I can't wait to discuss chapter 13! Come on everyone! Temporarily put away a couple of the other books you are reading and have this book at hand and available for every free moment and potty break! We don't want to lose momentum on what He's doing in our lives! I will save my comments for chapter 13 for later because I need to pray about this and digest it a little. This is very hard to do - especially since it goes so much against my grain! He is my Helper and my Provider. How about demonstrating that I trust Him?
Lord ,I believe, help me in my unbelief!
Jules
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Well, apparently I've reached that part of the book where the only thing I can say is: OUCH!!!! This is painful. Whoever said "the truth hurts" was right. Where I am right now is that I know that I need to spend some time with the Lord and listen to Him. He's convicting me about so much that I don't even know where to start. I'll hopefully have some insight to share (and maybe encourage along the way) with you all. OUCH.
Yes Wendy. In a word OUCH.
Definitely know what you mean!
Let's really pray for each other right now. I know this is hard for all of us. I am quite determined to give the Lord what's His but I really have to re-budget and re-budget. We'll get thru this!
In light of eternity,
Jules
It's good to be back on here. I'm now at chapter 17. My nose has been stuck in this book for the past 5 chapters or so!
Right now I'm letting my mind dwell on such things as "The Christian community should be filled with people who set a cap on their lifestyles, giving away everything above that amount" and "We desperately need bold models of kingdom-centered living" and here's the kicker (I'm warning you!!!!):
bottom of p. 295 "God comes right out and tells us why He gives us more money than we need. It's not so we can find more ways to spend it. It's not so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children. It's not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God's provision. It's so we can give and give generously!"
Ok, maybe you read this and say "yes, that's all true, from the Word and it's common sense".
Well.....I haven't been living that way. I thought these promotions and gifts were about me. Yes, increasing my home size, getting more & nicer clothes, splurging at the mall, etc. These are things that go along with making more money, yes? Well, guess what. Randy Alcorn has slipped the rug from under my feet and now I must face the facts.
I need to go now.....time to burn some sacred cows.
THIS IS HARD! BUT I'M READY!!!!!
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