tithing = the hardest thing you will ever do

Tithe. [tahyth] noun.   
The tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like.

As a college student the last thing I want or need to do is spend the little bit of money I do have for "charitable" purposes.  Personally, I'm already looking at nearly $70,000 of debt from my undergraduate career staring me straight in the face after I walk across a stage, grab a leather folder, and shake a man's hand this next May.  This reality drives me to keep any spare cash tightly within the grasp of my fingers and not let it go...until I need to buy the inevitable next textbook.

Since being offered an amazing PAID internship with my employer this fall semester, blessings have been pouring out: the internship, living at home with no rent, not having to pay for a meal plan, not worrying if I will work enough during the month to pay for the electric bill.  The kicker:  all the while, I haven't been tithing - and I haven't for nearly a year and a half.

This summer has been one of God showing up at my door, me seeing him through the peephole, and then me locking the deadbolt.

Two weeks ago I started asking myself, "Why?"  Why did God work out all the details for me to stay home this semester when my grandpa's health is failing and I cannot afford school without a well-paying job/internship?  Why, after years of stubbornly resisting alternative methods, have I been able to get answers about my health with naturopathic medicine?  Why is He still working - daily - in my life when I ignore His Saving Grace?  Because He pursues us with an unrivaled tenacity.

My God is unrelenting.  He is very active. He is very present.  He is very real.

I was taken aback by scripture this week, because of its vast illustration and witness to these facts.  

• Habakkuk prays in awe of the Father: "You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed."  (3:13)  He went out.  I was sought.
• Zechariah describes our King: "Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double." (9:12)  He will restore us...no questions asked.
• Isaiah shares in a common desperation: "Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." (40:28)
• But my favorite - by far - was found as I was reading through Hosea: "Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.  I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them." (11:3-4)

So often people - myself included - read these verses and think, Yeah He loves me.  Yeah He saved me.  I'm grateful, so let's be honest, I'm good to go.  But, I looked at these scripture again this week and I understood something else.  I finally understand the meaning of Obedience.

Obedience has to be one of the most dreaded words known to Christians, nay humanity.  No one likes to be told what to do, especially by some deity or philosophy; obedience is more than that: it is a posture, an attitude, a choice.  Society (not just the Bible) says murder is wrong...we don't go around murdering people.  Society (again, not just the Bible) says stealing is wrong...we don't go and break into our neighbors' houses and take things.  Does the act of tithing not merit the same consideration?  We each choose not to murder.  We each choose not to steal.  Why should our choices, attitudes, and postures toward these "commands" differ from those of tithing.  Why? ---- Because tithing deals with our pocketbooks.  It deals with our security of self.  It deals with our being in control.  It deals with giving of ourselves.  

Let's get honest.  We "obey" the laws about murder and stealing...because there are hefty [sometimes bodily] consequences; we don't just obey because someone told us, "It would really show your love and devotion to someone else."

As I sat down this week to budget out my pay check, I began by writing down "Tithe: $87"  (First on the list.  Just like my parents taught me.)  Then, I listed a few other small bills and items I knew I needed to budget for, and the remainder was to go to paying down the balance of my tuition that is due for Fall semester.  Becoming disappointed with the amount of headway I would make on my school bill, the first thing I scratched off my list - without even hesitating, by the way - was...Tithe.  Not my gasoline budget, not my nail salon budget, not my Starbucks fund - it was my Tithe.  

In that moment, I realized: tithing is more than just a "good Christian thing to do."  It was more than just "God asks us to do it."  It is ALL about Obedience!  It is about my posture and attitude toward my Savior.  He pursues us with everything He is, why am I not pursuing Him to the same extent?

If you ever wanted/wondered about a barometer or gauge to measure your relationship with Christ...  

The gauge of what you truly believe about your Salvation is tithing.

If you trust Him with your eternity, but not with 10% of your finances, you may want to do some evaluation.