Session 9

The Test

From The Blessed Life

Later in life, my grandparents fell in love with Jesus. Like really gave Him their hearts and their lives. It was a beautiful thing to watch, as they so completely offered Him everything they had. My grandmother was in poor health, and they had very little money. I remember sitting at her kitchen table visiting on a quiet morning. In typical grandmother fashion, she shared her morning routine in great detail. Then, she did something that was an absolute gift. She wrote a check.

It was her tithe check. She explained that was always the first check she penned. She literally made Him first in her checkbook—even when she knew there was a good chance she would come up short in the end. She assured me that He was the master accountant, and somehow there was always enough—an unexpected reimbursement, a decrease in monthly expenses, a gift, etc.

It was there in that single interaction that I learned tithing is more a test of our faith than of our resources. Either we believe everything we have belongs to God or we don’t. Either we believe He will bless our obedience or we don’t. Either we trust Him to meet our needs or we don’t. Tithing is about the size of our faith, not the size of our wallets. Jesus lays it out clearly in Matthew 6, “...O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”