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Lulay's >
Personal >
My Life With GOD >
Finances and Christianity
Finances and Christianity
Tithes?... ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... leave that one alone. The last thing I wanted
was anybody to try to get in my wallet. I worked hard for my money (or worked hard
to get to other people's money), and I wasn't going to be so stupid to give my money
away... well maybe when I had the house and cars I wanted, and all of the fun goodies I wanted,
and a great retirement account saved, and I was too old to want to spend it on something else,
and maybe after I hit the lottery... then maybe I would think about trying to make
giving a regular part of my finances.
Well, that was the first premise I believed... then I got saved... and then came the
conviction. We weren't making much money anyway, but my wife always paid tithes and
I never did. Money was tight and we had just got married. I regularly
gave my wife a very hard time about paying tithes, imploring her to please not pay tithes so
we could put the money to a credit card (or something fun - my usual carnal stupid
thinking). She never teetered an inch... she was rock solid on
this. She was raised that it was not her money to spend and it was the first thing
out of her paycheck. She and other christians close to me constantly brought this
up to me, but it simply didn't make sense when things were tight.
Job History
Why am I bringing this up? I think it is important that anyone reading this understands
where we were, and just where we would be when the "conviction hammer" dropped.
When we got married my wife was a Teachers Assistant and I delivered pizza (she made about a
third more than I did). Her health began deteriorating and she eventually could
no longer work. Around that same time, she tells me we are expecting our first
child. Now, I am the sole provider working as a manager of a pizza delivery
store.... tithes?... you have to be kidding me... how?... no way.
I got the Asian flu (?) and missed a week of work (after not missing a day in three
years), to come back to work and be asked to take a demotion... consequently I opted
to leave - a decision good or bad I and my wife would have to live with.
Now, no medical insurance.
No medical insurance, one income (very low), and our baby is born... then dies the next
day. The doctors did everything they could to save our son in that day from the
8th documented case of strep group B caused infant death in the nation, but
no amount of prayers were going to change GOD's mind... he was gone. As if
the grief and the horrible things that come with an experience like that (a 22 year old
young man sitting with dad and father-in-law picking out a casket that I can't afford,
so I pick the one that looks like a cheap tool box)... the bills began to come in.
I am not going to say that parents and others didn't do the best they could to
help us (their generosity to this day is eternally appreciated), but after all of that...
we still had nearly $15,000 dollars in medical bills. Those bills equated to
20 individual payments that had to be written per month - taking us nearly 20 years to pay
off... a constant reminder of the most devastating thing to ever happen to us, reminding us
every month for 20 years.
With no money to cover a place to live, food, and all
of the other expenses - we had to borrow each month on a credit card... when a card limit
was topped, we took out another card and continued to borrow from every financial resource
we could until we could no longer afford to take another card out and make payments. During
those early years between jobs I went on unemployment two times (less than 2 months), and went on
food stamps two times (man were we ever grateful to have food stamps) for a couple of
months. Note: unemployment and food stamps were a very hard thing for me to
do, especially since I had never heard of my friends or relatives needing to take
these steps - I felt like I was about as low as I could get. We would not have
eaten well the rest of those early years had it not been for the generosity of my in-laws
(those same people who I knew I had let down) and my brother-in-law.
So... 22 years old, one income, another baby on the way and I started selling
cars. It didn't take long
for me to figure out that I had a natural ability to talk little old ladies into confiding in
me while I told the manager she had $5000 cash in her wallet and I would get full price and
all of granny's cash. Yep, that was me... I would do/say anything to make a
sale. For the first time, I was making really good money and rather than paying
bills or tithes - I was saving it (in case something else bad happened). Even though
I was making money for the owner, the car lot suddenly closed and all of the sales crew was
looking for jobs. I worked various odd sales jobs and in the interim used up all of
my savings. The whole time I was in sales, I was convicted about what I was saying
and doing to make sales. I kept praying for a job far from sales.
The Conviction Hammer Drops
Finally in 1986, after pounding on doors - I was finally offered a state job. It would
be the lowest paying job I ever had (working as a laborer moving furniture and general
"gopher" work)... but it did have good benefits, I only had to work 40 hours per week,
and I got weekends off. So here I am, one income (the lowest ever), wife and baby (and
diapers plus all of the other things the young'ns need) and I am listening to a preacher on the
radio who says - "Not paying tithes is STEALING from GOD"! Huh? That was
news to me - I may have heard it before, but not like I HEARD it that day. It hit
me like a ton of bricks. I was stealing from the same GOD I prayed to was asking him
to bless everything in my life. To me, I no longer had a choice - I wouldn't steal
from GOD, even it meant I couldn't pay one of my other obligations. It is worth noting that
by one of GOD's great miracles, we made it through that whole mess without missing or being
late on a payment. So, at that point I was ready to risk the only thing I felt
that I really had going for me... good credit.
My wife (naturally) had no problem at all with risking bad credit to pay tithes, so the first
month's wages came and I put the tithe check in the offering plate... and waited for my
credit to go right down the toilet. The end of the month came, and so did a first
(in a long time)... we had a few dollars left over - and we didn't have to borrow money to eat.
On Our Way
Several months followed and as we prayed for GOD to bless us, job opportunities began to come up
and I got on a roll. It was so cool to be able to continue to increase our tithe check
each time GOD blessed us with a new career opportunity. By the way - these
"opportunities" didn't drop out of the sky, I worked hard with applications and
developing interview skills, and learning how to bounce back after being turned down for
jobs (at one point 10 interviews for the same job).
Two years into my state career and the start of tithing I was listening to a Sunday morning
message regarding "asking GOD to help us to use the gifts he has given us to their
maximum potential". This concept was very new to me. I was
used to praying for GOD to bless me, but I hadn't thought to ask GOD to help me use the
things he has already blessed me with to their maximum potential. So that same
Sunday night I prayed, "GOD help me to use those gifts that I might not even know I
have to the max". GOD answered quickly when in the middle of that Sunday night's
slumber I rose suddenly with an idea. Whether I had been laying there tossing and
turning, dreaming, or GOD just "slammed it into my head"... I don't
know. I won't say "GOD told me", because there was nothing
audible. But I will say that in my entire life to that point I had never rose in
the middle of the night with an entire idea before. Was it coincidence that just
hours before I had prayed what I prayed?... I think not.
This idea involved computers, something I had ZERO experience with (except video games, but
never on a home computer). So I have this great idea, but don't know anything
about computers... maybe it was just a fluke... so I let it go.
One week later - next Sunday's message the pastor preached on "faith without works being dead" and
he later stated VERY CLEARLY - "don't pray to GOD for something, then fail to take action
on his answer"! How could this be? It was as if I had told
this guy (or anybody) what had happened, and he was speaking those words specifically
for me to hear. I hadn't said anything to anybody. It simply
blew me away... GOD knows me well enough to know that he
would have to pound me over the head before I would take the kind of action he was
asking for... so he gave me a direct hit.
I told my wife everything that night after church and she confirmed that I needed to take
action. The next day I went down to Radio Shack, completed a credit card
application (by some miracle was approved), and purchased a high dollar lap top (piece
of junk by today's standards). Next I sought after a programmer that I could
pay to help me with this idea. It was all about money I didn't have to
spend, at a time that didn't make any sense, with no experience in this field at
all... it was blind faith and a total dependence on GOD to come through.
That initial idea never got off the ground, but the computer spawned a great
career and lots of other opportunities and
ideas. In addition, years later the terminal desease my wife
had been diagnosed with had "mysteriously" disappeared (called miraculous
healing or devine intervention). This didn't
happen according to my time, but thousands of hours of prayer, and an untold number
of people crying out to GOD for her healing... it finally happened. When
once she couldn't work and she
couldn't get life insurance (because of the inevitable dismal forecast), she was able to start working
and today has a great career in the medical industry.
Not long ago, my wife and I talked about those multiple times we asked each other
if we would ever be able to afford to eat at McDonalds again. I will
never forget that feeling, and will never look down on someone in the middle
of their financial struggle.
Oh yeah, let me say something about offerings. Offerings have nothing
to do with tithes, and don't mix the two. Tithes go to the church
without YOU saying anything about how GOD will use his money. You
can (and should) give money and items when GOD prompts you to give
extra - this is called an offering and should never be confused with
tithes. Don't "play with" or look at how paying tithes
might benefit you... give GOD his money since he blessed you with it... GOD will
take care of the rest.
| Disclaimer |
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I am not a trained theologian... I am just a dude that is a sinner saved by
grace. I am sharing things as I see them, and you should
challenge anything I or anyone else says by looking in the word and
praying for discernment.
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