Giving to God - Tithe

Giving to God means giving ourselves completely, entirely and totally to God. It means giving back to God what he has given to us. It means sharing in his generosity, his magnanimity and his grandiosity. We give to God in three ways. We give of our time, our talent and our treasure. Does this sound too much? I doubt it!

So what is tithe? Giving in tithe means giving of a tenth of one’s earning to God. This precept is biblical. All the children of Israel are exhorted to reciprocate God’s generosity. Moses makes offering the foundation of a believer’s faith. It states, “Every year separate the tenth part from the yield of what you have sown in your fields. In the presence of Yahweh, in the place he has chosen as the dwelling place for his Name, you shall eat the tithe of your wheat, your oil and your wine, and the firstlings of your herd and flock that you may learn to honor Yahweh, your God, all the days of your life. The journey may be too long for you to bring those tithes to the place Yahweh has chosen as a dwelling place for his name. In that case, when Yahweh your God, blesses you, exchange them all for money. Take the money in your hand and go to the place chosen by Yahweh. There you shall buy whatever you like – oxen or sheep, or wine or strong drink – anything you like. And there you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh, and shall rejoice – you and your household. And do not forget the Levite who dwells in your cities, since he has nothing of his own and no inheritance as you have. Every three years, separate, the tithes of all the years harvest but store them in the city. Then the Levite among you, who has no inheritance of his own, and the foreigner, the orphan and the widow who live in your cities may come and eat, and be satisfied. So Yahweh will bless all the works of your hands, all that you undertake.” This therefore is the Law of Moses and it is the foundation of the Law of tithe offering” (Deut.14:22-29).

Psalm 37 stresses that “The just one has compassion, he gives and lends; and in the end, he owns the land while the unjust one borrows and does not repay and in the end, he is thrown out of the land”. The person who knows how to give does not squander: he is content with what he has and lacks nothing, while one who refuses to give never has enough and never feels happy, (Prov. 11:24).

The law of tithing is as old as the Old Testament of the Bible. In Genesis 14:20, we hear these words, “And Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything.” It will be interesting to read the full story in the Book of Genesis 14:14-24. Here we note that the gift was given to Melchizedek who was a priest of the Most High God. When Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything, Abraham went away richer with the joy of having heard from the lips of this stranger, words which confirmed God’s blessing on him. Moreover, when Jacob had a dream he exclaimed, “This stone which I have set up will be God’s house, and of all that you give me. I will give back a tent” (Gen. 28:10-22).

When we give to God, we acknowledge that our blessing comes from God and in giving back to God we share in his generosity. Prophet Malachi, on the other hand, attributes the misfortune of people to the fact that they are not offering God his due. Once they offer their gift freely to God, he will open up the treasure of his blessing on the house of Jacob. He did not mince words when he addressed the children of Israel in their obligation to give their tithe to God. “Surely I, the Lord, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob. Since the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Yet you say, “How must we return?” Dare a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me! And you say, “How do we rob you?” In tithes and in offerings! You are indeed accursed, for you, the whole nation; rob me. Bring the whole tithe into the store house, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts: shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessing upon you without measure” (Malachi 3:6-10).

Jesus Christ talks a lot about giving a tithe but he also called on us not to neglect the more serious act of justice, love and mercy. “A cures is on you, Pharisees; for the Temples you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and the other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. This ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other” (Lk. 11:42). The greatest gift we can ever give to God is the gift of ourselves. We must therefore present ourselves to God every Sunday if we cannot do it everyday. 

Giving a Gift to others

To give means to share what you have with others. Giving to others means to give a gift, to give in charity, to give alms or to make a donation. But to give to God is called giving a tithe, giving of 10 percent of your earning to God. Giving in this way is a participation in the generosity of God. God gives to us abundantly and he can’t stop giving. He does not give because we are good or bad, not because we are rich or poor, not because we are tall or short; neither does he give because of the color of our skin or the creed we profess. No. He gives because it is his nature to give.

Life has taught us that if there is anything God cannot do is that he cannot count! Or rather He does not want to count. Have you ever seen a mango tree filled with mangoes? Try to count the mangoes on that tree! Or any other fruit tree for that matter. Have you ever experienced rainfall or felt sunray or your skin? He who created us knows our needs and provides them accordingly. Hence what I am sure about tomorrow is that providence will rise before the dawn. God cannot stop giving just as he cannot stop loving. Simply put, it is not God’s nature not to give, not to love, not to bless his children providing for them at all times. God blesses some with abundance so that they too may bless their brothers and sisters. Here then is the problem. Those that God has blessed have often refused to bless others.

Many times we give with wrong intention, giving with the intention of being paid back in return. But the best gift is the one we hope for no return. Christ’s teaching is clear at this point. “But take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in streets to win the praise of others. …But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who see in secret will repay you” (Mt. 6:1-4). When we give without knowing who benefits from our generosity then our gift becomes a blessing even unto ourselves. Christ has words of wisdom to confirm this. Listen: “Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you”, (Lk. 6:38).

Another important point to note about giving is that when we give, it is really to God that we give. To demonstrate this point a story taken from life’s lesson is apt here. A legend has it that one day while riding his steed, St. Francis came upon a beggar who was also a leper, shivering in the cold. On impulse, Francis got down from his horse, embraced the beggar, and wrapped his coat around him. That night St. Francis dreamed that he died. In heaven he saw Jesus sitting on his throne, wearing the coat. Jesus assures us, “whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me”, (Mt. 25:40). Let us give for it better to give than to receive. I will conclude this posting with the prayer of St. Francis. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. Tomorrow’s posting will be on giving to God – Tithe. 

Let us talk about Love

I don’t think there is any word in English language that is bastardized and misunderstood as the word love. Love has different connotations for different people depending on the person using it and for the purpose the person wants to convey by its usage. Many people use the word love for selfish reasons. Others use the word as a manipulative weapon so as to achieve their selfish inclinations. Yet love is the last bastion for our civilization. It is the only instrument that has the power to save the world from anarchy and chaos. “Love”, according to Martin Luther King, Jr., “is creative, understanding goodwill for all men”.

The Greek language has three words for love. First, it talks about love as eros. Plato sees eros as yearning of the soul for the realm of the gods. This is romantic love. Everyone has experienced eros in all its ramifications at one point or the other. Most of the time when young people talk of love, it is this eros that is at the root of it all. This love most of the time originates from infatuation and lust. This is not all together bad if handled properly for from this type of love comes powerful friendships that have resulted in marriage. The second type of love in Greek language is philia. This is a type of intimate affection between personal friends. Philia is a beautiful feeling that we have towards those we call our friends, who love us because we love them. You like the person because the person likes you and you want to go have dinner with the person or you want to go and see a movie with the person. You like to communicate with this person because you have certain things in common.

Another word for love in Greek language is agape. Agape is more than eros; it is more than philia. According to Martin Luther King Jr., “Agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all people. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love people, not because they are likable, but because God loves them”. This is the kind of love that Christ demonstrated on the cross when he died for us all. This love seeks nothing for self but seeks the good of the other. St. Paul refers to this type of love in his letter to the Corinthians 13:1-12. He says, “If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal… Love is patient; love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, is not rude, it does not seek its own interest, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”. Come to think of it, when we look at St. Paul’s understanding of the word love, do we measure up to its true meaning? Many parents have tried to love their children unconditionally. Yet many times they fall short of the true meaning of love. And yet this is what God did for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life”, (John 3:16). This is the kind of love we should have for one another. So I ask you, the last time you told someone you loved him or her, what did you really mean?

The Tongue

Students of school of life have related many experiences they have learnt and they constantly attempt to pass these lessons on to those who are willing to learn from them. The lessons are free but many refuse to learn to their own peril. One of such lessons is about a hunter who encountered a talking skull during one of his hunting expeditions in the forest. The skull informed the hunter that if he were not careful with his tongue, he too would find himself resting by his side in the heart of the forest. The hunter, the story has it, was shocked and surprised that a skull could talk to him. He ran out of the forest straight to the palace of the king and narrated his ordeal to the king. On hearing this, the king summoned his advisers and councilors so that they would hear the story of the hunter. The hunter repeated his story and recounted how he saw a skull in the forest and what the skull told him. He reported that he was prepared to go and fetch the skull so that the king, his advisers and councilors could see it with their eyes and hear it speak with their ears. He went on to say that if the skull would not speak to the king, the king should cut off his own head. (He was so sure of himself)  The council of the king accepted his proposal and he was dispatched to the forest so that he could bring the skull in.

The hunter went to the forest where he found the skull at the exact position that it was when he first saw it. He then picked the skull up and brought it to the presence of the king and his council. On dropping the skull, he ordered the skull to tell the king and his council what it told him. But the skull did not utter a word. He commanded, cajoled, begged and pleaded with the skull to speak to the king, but the skull did not answer him a word. Finally, the king, his advisers and councilors decided that they had had enough. They took counsel and decided that the hunter’s head should be cut off, and that the two heads should be thrown into the forest. This was done: the hunter’s head was cut off and together with the skull dumped into the forest. When the dispatchers had left, the skull turned round and spoke these words to the hunter: “remember what I had told you, that if you did not guard your tongue you will one day lie side by side with me here in the forest? Here you are just like I had said, lying side by side with me”.

This short story says it all about the power of the tongue. The third chapter of the letter of St. James is devoted to the power of the tongue. James says, “if a person is without fault in speech he is a man in the fullest sense, because he can control his entire body. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide the rest of their bodies. It is the same with ships: however large they are, and despite the fact that they are driven by fierce winds, they are directed by very small rudders on whatever our course the steersman’s impulse may select. The tongue is something like that. It is small member, yet it makes great pretensions” (James 3:2-5). Many friendships have been sacrificed on the altar of the unguarded tongue. Many have suffered abuses and betrayal because of the wrong use of the tongue. Friends we trusted and shared our inmost secrets with have divulged our secrets and brought us down because of the tiny body part called the tongue.

Let us listen to our brother James again: “See tiny the spark is that sets a huge forest ablaze! The tongue is such a flame. It exists among our members as a whole universe of malice. The tongue defiles the entire body. Its flames encircle our course from birth, and its fire is kindled by hell. Every form of life, four-footed or winged, crawling or swimming, can be tamed and has been tamed, by mankind; the tongue no man can tame. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. We use it to say, “Praised be the Lord and Father”; then we use it to curse men, though they are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:6-11).

It is sad that many times this restless tongue of ours is so prone to evil that it says things that are not true about our friends. This is malicious! Before we pass on information about our brothers and sisters, do we even bother to check the facts? Do we ask ourselves if this is the kind of information we would like to be passed on about ourselves? I dare say that we should take a step further to see how important and beneficial this information should be if we pass it on to others. In using my tongue, it could be good to ask how I would be comfortable to confront my friend with this information before I pass it on. The book of Proverbs observes, “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (18:20-21).

God gave us the tongue to use it in praising him, in lifting up one another, in correcting one another in love. Let us be kind to one another in the use of our tongue. Remember the golden rule, do to no one what you do not want done to you. Let us use our tongue to bless rather than use it to bring sadness to one another. May God bless you, may he let his face shed its light upon you. May he be gracious to you now and always!

Seeing the World through the eyes of a Child

Ever given a thought to why Christ exhorts us not lead children astray? I have given a lot of thought to this and the more I think about it the more sense it makes to me. Children are innocent, trusting, loving with no pretense, sincere and honest in dealing with their friends and very loyal too. They are quick to forgive and ready to forget. They are pure and modest, caring and compassionate. Children do not think that anything is impossible for their parents. For them their parents are super heroes. Their faith is unflinching. They are committed, energetic, passionate and hopeful that whatever they undertake will turn out well, even if they are not sure how to get there. A child works hard at his or her play and has no care in the world so long as an adult is nearby. Here are few reasons I can think of why Christ stresses “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these”. He further warns us: “Amen I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mk. 10:13-15). Do we, adults, have these qualities?

I am always fascinated at the sense of wonder and awe that I often observe in the faces of children when they play or undertake an adventure. For them time always come to a stand still. It is like they are always in search of adventure and when they find one they are awe struck by it. Children are inquisitive, they want to discover new things, to learn new ways of doing things and they are excited when they are acknowledged, appreciated and most of all they bloom when they are loved. Don’t you just love children?

Christ has very strong words for those who lead children astray. He says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great milestone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” (Mt. 18:6-7).  Hence, sins committed against children cry out to heaven for vengeance. When we lead children astray we steal from them their sense of innocence. We betray their trust and initiate them into a life of sin, of cheating, lying, stealing and finally killing.

Looking at the world with the eye of a child means embracing a life of wholeness and holiness. It means trusting God absolutely and depending on him entirely for our every need. It means working as if everything depends on us and praying for everything depends on God. It means opening our eyes to the wonder of creation and being awed by its awesomeness and immensity. It means being quick to forgive and being willing to forget the past. May we take no love for granted and embrace everyone as a child of God, thinking not of the color of their skin nor the language they speak. May we appreciate every gratitude we receive and acknowledge our daily blessings! This is how children, who are not corrupted by adults, see the world. Life has many lessons to teach us in children, let us learn these lessons and see the world through their own eyes! Hence the Lord says, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:3-4).

In Search of Peace

Life has taught us that we should be at peace with God, with our neighbors and with ourselves. There is a life story to demonstrate this point. A young man went out to steal for the first time. His chance came when a woman parked her car and left the ignition key inside and went into the mall. The young man approached the car, opened the door and got inside. He however saw hanging on the rear mirror an inscription: ‘Peace be with you’. These words struck him so powerfully that he changed his mind. Instead of taking the woman’s car, he left the car with a note, “it was my intention to steal your car, but when I saw your hanging, peace be with you, I thought to myself, if I steal your car, I would deprive you of peace and I will know no peace myself. I decided not to steal your car. By the way, this was my first attempt. So please in future, remember to lock your car and remove the key from the ignition. ‘Peace be with you!’ Would be thief”.

In some parts of the world people are greeted with peace. In the Gambia, the common greeting is ‘Sala-male-kum’ and the answer is ‘male-kum-salem’, this means ‘let there peace’ and the response is ‘peace only’. Shalom is commonly used also to wish peace to people. This means that peace is a common quest for everyone. Though we talk about peace and wish everyone peace, do we really have peace? If we take a cursory glance around the world, our environment and our cities, do we really see peace? We have been following the activities of the Middle East, how nations are fed up with their leaders and demonstrate for peace. We are also appalled as these leaders put a lot of resistance and cling to power. As a result many have lost their lives in the process. Whenever there is inequality and fair distribution of wealth among people in the state, in a country or in a community, there is bound to be conflict and civil strife.

Are we doing all it takes to fight for peace? Consider the toys we give our children, the video games we distribute at Christmas and the many violent films we watch. Think of our utterances and the company we keep. There seem to be violence everywhere. No wonder why there is no peace. Yet we are Christians.

How can we capture the essence of peace? In my opinion the answer lies in the way we live. We must change our attitude to life and pursue the things that will bring us peace. If we want peace, we have to work for it. This is not just wishful thinking or something we say. Peace should be something we do. Ps. 71 reminds us that in his days justice shall flourish and peace till the moon be no more. This refers to the days of Christ, the days of God. If we are filled with the glory of God, then we will work for peace. Christ assures us of the blessing that will be received by those who work for peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Mt. 5:9). Is it possible to, by any chance, learn the life's lesson from the would be theif?

Let us Talk Forgiveness 4 - Forgiveness of God

Forgiveness theorists suggest that the experience of forgiveness is different if one is forgiving another, receiving another’s forgiveness or forgiving oneself, or receiving God’s forgiveness. But it is different if a person finds fault with God or blames God for his or her problems. The book of Genesis made it clear that God was happy with all his creation and indeed saw that everything was good. The struggle between good and evil has been in the world as far back as creation itself. The blame game all started when Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God. When asked what had happened Adam passed the blame to the woman and the woman passed it on to the snake. Since the snake could not speak, it seems the blame went back to God, perhaps for giving man free will. When I blame God for my problems, I am indirectly blaming Him for the problems of the world. I am blaming Him for the gift of free will, so freely given to me to choose to do the good and shun evil. I am refusing to take responsibility for my actions. God’s forgiveness is unconditional. As Henry Nouwen, the spiritual writer rightly observed, “it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking”. Whenever I feel that God is responsible for my brokenness, my hurt and anguish, may be I have not been thankful enough for the many blessings that I have received. Could my hurt be telling me something about myself rather than about what God has done to me?

My thinking that God is responsible for my situation in life challenges me to my need for gratitude and compliments from others. It demands of me to move beyond the wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and wants to stay in control. It calls on me to put on a new heart and a new way of looking at the world and people around me. I must come to the awareness of who I am and how I have allowed my brokenness to keep me from growing to the full maturity God intended for me.

Forgiving God means accepting who I am as a gift from God. It means climbing over the wall of my smallness or as Nouwen put it, “the wall of arguments and angry feelings that I have erected between myself and all those whom I love but who so often do not return that love. It is a wall of fear of being used or hurt again. It is a wall of pride, and the desire to stay in control. But every time that I can step or climb over that wall, I enter into the house where the Father dwells, and there touch my neighbor with genuine compassionate love”. We cannot go through life without forgiveness. Forgiving self, others and God is a necessary condition to a fulfilled life. Without forgiveness we are a walking time bomb waiting for the appropriate time to explode, the explosion of which will have a disastrous and a monumental effect both on the self and the community at large. How can we not forgive God, the author of forgiveness itself, or do we really need to forgive God? Should we not rather pray that we be forgiven by God who has loved us so much that He gave us his Son to die for our sins so that we may still find our way back to Him. For those who have many reasons not to forgive, look at Christ on the Cross and ask yourself a question did he really deserve that? If not then why did he pray for God “to forgive them for they do not know what they are doing?” If Christ forgave those who killed him on the Cross then why not forgive those who did not kill you but only hurt you?