Came across a news article titled, “Pastor Pitches Tithing as a Budget Solution” in my daily browsing across the internet. You can read the article here from TwinCities.com. Ok, the gist of the article talks about how tithing has been declining, but there’s one statement in there that strikes me.
“. . . many people now see government, not private religious organizations, as the primary vehicle for serving the destitute.”
How embarrassing for God. The rotten, stinkin, filthy government is now his representative. The Church has passed on the torch. If i was God, I’d be shaking my head in shame. I’d be embarrassed. No wonder giving is down in the Church. Until we’ve learned what we are called here to do, then why should God trust his Church with more money?
Giving, feeding, and serving the poor was the hallmark of Christ’s ministry while on earth. On top of that, one of his last accomplishments before leaving the earth was destroying the temple, but we’ve defied his actions and re-resurrected the temple and neglected the poor.
The problem we have is in the title of this article. We think we need solutions for “our” budgets. We think that the lifeblood of our church is our budget, our buildings or our programs. When these things are deficient we think that our mission is being compromised because of lack of funding.
I wish I could go back to the early church and see how simplistic giving was. Taking care of needs was the number one goal of giving. Now we literally have bookstores, coffee shops, amusement parks, malls, theaters, and fitness rooms that have jumped on the band wagon of “needs”. And it will not stop there. The future holds more and more possibilities that will rob the poor.