Free to Give
Dear Hope Church Family,
At the risk of a humble-brag, at least a risk among fellow Christians, I’ve never been particularly motivated by money. Now before you mistake me for some medieval saint, please know that I like money as much as anyone, wish I had more of it, and if today I spied a lonely dollar bill lying unaccounted for on the street, I would surely bend over to pick it up and stick it in my pocket. In fact, so far from sainthood in this am I that I confess there have been many times in my life when I genuinely wished I had been more motivated by it. If I had been, I’d have more of it now.
I think a large part of the reason why I’m the way I am about money is the example of my mother. A child of the Great Depression, born in the late 1920s and growing up in the 1930s, she knew firsthand not only the hardship of doing without, but also the humiliation of not being able to pay.
Growing up this way could well have hardened her heart. Visualize Scarlett O’Hara in the famous scene from Gone with the Wind raising her fist to the heavens, declaring, “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.” But in my mother’s case, it didn’t. If I heard her say this to us once, I heard it scores of times: “Instead of complaining about the bill you have to pay, instead just be thankful you can pay it.” With the Holy Spirit’s leading and her as an example, the “love of money” never got a grip on me.
As I matured as a believer, I learned that earnestly following our Lord meant giving generously was simply a core part of the Christian life. But how much? Some, a tenth, more than that, ALL? The Old Testament law of the tithe mandated a tenth of all your earnings. But hadn’t Christ laid claim to all of my life? So, isn’t it all his? Or at least more than a tenth, you know, to be safe? Needless to say, this kind of reasoning soon tied me in knots.
Near the middle of Psalm 119, the psalmist exclaims “Oh, how I love your law!” A bit earlier in the same Psalm he declares, “I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” I don’t know about you, but most of the time I find that the words “law” and “freedom” don’t sit quite so easily together. Usually we understand law as being about constraint, while freedom is, well, about the lack of it. Hmm?
In my case, giving the tithe, a tenth, even scrupulously so, was liberating. It was the amount God revealed to His people, it was easy to figure, giving it away gave me peace, and soon it gave me joy as well. It also established a habit of giving in me that in time made giving even more easier still.
I do indeed “walk about in freedom” because of giving, freedom and joy. I pray you can experience both as well, and soon!
Peace,
Delane Clark