GIVE YOURSELF A RAISE. Do you want a raise? How much we earn is determined by how much we purpose in our hearts to give. What do I mean by this? Keep watching?
We are living in very challenging and stressful times in which possession, money, and wealth matter to all. However, if not careful, the pursuit of wealth will pull us away from what really matters, which is our relationship with God and one another.
Satan uses the things of this world to tempt and lure us to him. However, the Word of God provides us with the guidance needed to avoid his trap.
In the Bible, God has provided us with practical guidance on how to live above the stresses of life, and we are given instructions on how to manage the resources He has given us.
In this series,
From a biblical perspective, we are looking at how to manage effectively the resources God has given us while prioritizing What Really Matters.
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Asking For God’s Guidance
Holy Father, we ask that you give us the faith we need to trust you even when we have little and can’t see our way through. In Jesus Name Amen
Now that we understand from the previous lessons that God expects us to return a faithful tithe. As expressed, the tithe is 10% of whatever we receive from our earnings or from a gift. God wants us to return 10% of all our increases to him.
He has that right because we are managers of his resources. Everything that we own come from him and belongs to him. Thus, He asks, as the owner of the family business, to which he has made us managers, that 10% of what he gives us be returned to Him for the benefit of His work in sharing the good news about His Son Jesus, His love for humanity, and His saving grace.
But the question many people ask is, should we tithe on our gross or net “income” or if we are self-employed and own a business should we return tithes on our gross profit or net profit?
In many countries, the government takes out taxes from the worker’s pay to pay for the cost of government services such as national securities, roads, bridges, and unemployment for people who have lost their jobs. This question of gross or net is, do we return tithe on the money we make before we pay taxes or after the taxes are deducted?
In terms of those who are self-employed, they have the legal right to deduct the cost of doing business from their gross profits to determine their net profit before their personal taxes are deducted.
Studies have shown that most people in the Seventh-day Adventists Churches pay tithe on the money they earn before the government takes out taxes.
Their example is 1 Kings 17:9–16. It tells of a widow’s condition just before her encounter with the Prophet Elijah.
(There we discover that Elijah asked the widow to do something special before she took care of her, and her son’s needs.
In 1 Kings 17:9 God instructed Elijah to Go to Zarephath, and He told the widow of Zarephath that a man of God was coming to see her.
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” (1 Kings 17:9)
Elijah does as the Lord had instructed him. When he arrives, he sees the woman and asked for a drink of water and then requested a piece of bread.
I Kings 17:10-11
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” (I Kings 17:10-11)
She then explains her desperate situation.
12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
Elijah comforts her and assures her everything was going to be OK.
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
To some, this might sound selfish on Elijah’s part, but then he says:
14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ (I Kings 17:13-14)
Was Elijah being selfish when he asked the woman for some food when she had so little?
Why did God have Elijah ask for food when she had so little?
It was a test! God was testing her faith!
Interestingly, it says in Testimonies to the Church vol 4. “God allows each of us to decide our income. And he leaves it up to us “to give as much as we decide within our heart”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 469. Adapted)
The widow of Zarephath made a choice, and in that choice, she decided how much she wanted to earn and how much she wanted to give.
”15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah. (I Kings 17:15-16)
There is a blessing in returning tithe. In it, we decide how much we will earn. If you feel your earnings are too low, consider doing as the woman of Zarephath and start performing unselfish acts and, by all means, return to God that which belongs to him.
Some argue that they are not pleased with how their tithe money is used, so rather than return the tithe, they use God’s tithe as they see fit. Yes, there may indeed be times when God’s tithe is not used effectively, but does this justify doing contrary to what God has asked us to do?
Find out on Day 6: (Split) An Honest and Faithful Tithes
If you want to return tithe and do not have a church home, consider giving online
@ Adventisgiving.org
in the name of
my local Church:
Hebron Seventh-day Adventist Church 7902 Wheatly Street in Houston, TX 77088
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