On Giving.

I have come to the conclusion that the most spiritual thing I do is giving. It's not praying, or reading the Bible, witnessing or anything else. Giving, for me, encompasses so much more.

When my wife and I were first married, money was very tight. To be honest, we didn't have enough to cover the basics. Unfortunately, we had to buy groceries and pay some bills on credit. It wasn't the best financial policy, but when one's other option is going without food and shelter, well, them's the breaks. As you can imagine, paying the bills was not a pleasant experience, and we were remiss to part with our money. In the middle of this, of course, I felt that we needed to tithe. I reasoned that being faithful to God was more important than amassing more debt. I was putting obedience over the basic needs of life, potentially. It was not an easy decision for us to make, but it was something I felt we needed to do.

What happened next was a truly spiritual event. I wrote the first tithe check. Even as I wrote it out, I felt all of the financial pressure I had been under melt away. I had effectively removed myself from the driver's seat; I was telling God that He was now in control of my finances. I was free. Free from worry, free from doubt. I knew that God would provide.

I wish I could say that we got a check in the mail for thrice the amount we gave the next day, but we didn't. (This did happen to us recently, though.) We didn't magically get out of debt through a clerical error in our favor. We still had to struggle to pay the bills. The act of giving up control, though, changed everything for me. No longer did I live under the tyranny of the present. No longer did I have to white-knuckle every last dollar before sending it to a creditor. I simply paid the bills as best as I could, and trusted God.

In the long run, God has provided. I do not tithe, have not tithed and will not tithe so that I will be blessed; I tithe because I want to be obedient to God. God, however, out of His mercy, has blessed us. Since beginning tithing, we have both become gainfully employed, we have implemented and maintained successfully an aggressive debt-reduction plan, and we have even been able to afford decent transportation and a roof over our head, all without having used a credit card in well over a year. This is much more than we expected or deserved. Every day, I see God blessing us financially, and I must assume it is at least in part because we have been obedient to Him.

Even if He chooses henceforth not to bless us materially, though, I will still give faithfully. "Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him." For me, giving is about submitting to His Lordship. If in His wisdom, He allows us to lose everything, I will submit. If He allows us material riches beyond imagination, I will submit. If He just gives me joy living in a regular house with my family, I will submit.

All because of writing one check.