Two weeks after college graduation, I married Jeanne. It was May 31, 1974.
A little over a week later, we returned from our honeymoon, moved into our first apartment, and began looking for jobs. Jeanne sought full-time employment, while I sought part-time to accomodate graduate school. Soon we received our first pay checks -- and were stunned how inadequate they were: rent, groceries, clothing, gas, and the constant repairs on our old Plymouth burned through money.
That's when we began tithing.
I won't tell you that tithing made it easier. It didn't. It made it much harder. After all, that's the point. In spite of what religious hucksters may claim, tithing is not some magical way to get God to send you more money. Tithing is the traditional spiritual discipline that teaches us how to let go. How to sacrifice. How to suffer. How to take up our cross. How to die.
Tithing settles one question, and one question only: "Who is Lord?"
It answers the question as to whether Jesus is Lord, or is my spending plan Lord. Is Jesus Lord, or is my car Lord? Is Jesus Lord, or is the square footage of my house Lord?
We've been married for more three decades. That's a lot of tithing. That's a lot of asking and answering the question about who is Lord. That's a lot of practicing for the cross.
Of course, tithing has nothing to do with my favorite charities, or with passing of the neighborhood hat to help out some cause, or with alms. Every year, just like you do, I too send checks to my favorite causes: my alumni association, several drives in the neighborhood, church projects, and, every month, for a child I sponsor in India. But none of that has anything to do with tithing.
Could I use that money? Of course I could! Would it make a difference in my lifestyle? Of course it would -- that's the point. I can sponsor a child in India and send a check to the alumni association without changing my lifestyle. But tithing has a direct effect on my lifestyle. It altered my lifestyle three decades ago, is still altering my lifestyle, and will continue to alter my lifestyle as long as I have an income.
And that's what I want to invite you to do. I am inviting you to put a crimp in your lifestyle. Right now. Beginning today.
Don't be confused: I'm not asking for donations to support a ministry. Tithing is not about supporting a ministry! Whatever church you attend, begin tithing there. Nor am I asking you to approve of your church's budget or ministry. I'm inviting you begin the most basic, fundamental spiritual discipline that definitively answers the question about whether or not you intend to become or continue as a serious, intentional follower of Jesus.
So here's my invitation to you:
1) Join me in alms giving. Sponsor an impoverished child. It will be good for the child, and it will be good for you. Here are two good organizations (I sponsor a child through one of these): World Vision International and Compassion International
2) Join me in making a difference in the world. Give to the Episcopal Appeal, or the United Fund, to cancer research, or Greenpeace, or Save the Bay, or whatever cause you favor.
3) Join me in giving back to organizations that helped you, such as your alumni association.
4) But before all that, remember the way it used to be? Remember when churches used to have the courage to call it what the Scriptures call it? They called it "tithes AND offerings." Do join me in giving all the free will offerings you wish, to whatever cause you care about. But first, join me in tithing to your own local spiritual community, your own congregation.