Tithing

II Corinthian 9:6-9

Remember that the person who plants few seeds will have a small crop; the one who plants many seeds will have a large crop. You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly. And God is able to make all grace (earthly blessing and favor) abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (as is written, he hath dispersed abroad; he hat given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

In your tithing give help and hope to someone less fortunate than you. There is always someone less fortunate that you who is without a country, without a husband, without a wife, without a family, a child, a job, limbs, sight, food, shelter, clothing, and health. You gift is recognition of your humanity and God's commandment that you love your neighbor as you would love yourself. These four organizations always help people who cannot help themselves. Rather than being depress at your plight remember there is always someone less fortunate than you. Leave something behind in the lives of the children who need you?

Shriner's Children Hospital
No Cost Orthopaedic and burn care for children
Contact the local chapter in your area.

Salvation Army - local chapter in your area
Assist the indigent, women and children with the necessities for life.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
501 St. Jude Place
Memphis, Tennessee 38105
No cost research and treatment of catastrophic diseases of children

Feed The Children
P.O. Box 8
Oklahoma City, Ok 73111
They feed the children of many nations.

Matthew 19: 13 -14 Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

It is time for you to differentiate your self from other men. There are children in this world who are suffering from lack of food and shelter those items basic to development. If you want to see the development of monsters then you should ignore their plight and continue planting as before. But if you want to see the development of angels then it would behoove you to plant a financial seed of a $1,000 into their lives.

Find a child in need. Think of the items this child needs most and give that item to the child through the parent. If the child needs a pair of shoes, give the child a wardrobe and see that he learns to read. If the child is hungry, give that child some food and see that he learns to farm and his mother has a refrigerator. All you have to do is stand outside a food distribution center or a Salvation Army feeding station someone will pass you by that will need your help. Go to a shelter find a family or a mother and her children, find out what the family needs to reestablish itself. Sometimes all it may take for a family to become stable again is for a car to be repaired or the first month rent for an apartment. Provide the financial seed then walk away. You are not a social worker it is not your job to judge. Just provide mercy with your seed God will do the rest. Your seed will do its work because the child you help will realize someone cared enough to try and save him or her. The world wants you to believe you are not your brother?s keeper and indeed you do not have to be but when an ill wind of sickness and disease blows your way believe you me you will want some man to have ?Mercy On Me.? God does not want your money used to build large edifices so you can sing in the church choir. God wants you to show mercy to your fellow man

James 2:13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Matthew 9:27 Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

Matthew 12:7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.

Matthew 18:33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'

Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices?mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law?justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Romans 12:8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully

Philippians 2:27
Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.

1 Timothy 1:13
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

James 2:13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Jude 1:23
snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear?hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Every Christian has been called to walk in love and to overcome evil with good any other calling is not of God. Is not the demonstration of mercy a way of overcoming evil with good? If you are looking for your calling, this is your calling to do good to others and walk in love. Every Christian is called to this. No person is unimportant in God?s eyes.

Think, do not let your emotions Rule; Each man to his desire; But plant mercy in the earth

We live in a time when executive bonuses are in the millions, professional athletes sign contracts for tens of millions, business acquisitions total in the billions, wars cost hundreds of billions, and our national deficit is over 10 trillion dollars. These enormous figures make one ponder the value of money itself. How significant is a cent nowadays? I must admit that I don't even put the effort into picking up a coin on the street unless it is a dime or more.

This humble short story from the bible helps put economics in perspective for us and see how valuable two tiny copper coins, amounting to one cent, were to God.

41And He (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums.

42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent.

43Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;

44for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44 (NASB)

After reading the story of "The widows mite" have you ever stopped and considered the significance of how two coins add up to one mite? The two coins are a wonderful clue into the true choice that was made.

Perhaps this woman of faith made a greater choice in her giving than we give her credit for. After all, the widow could have given one coin and kept one coin. She still would have given more than all of them. That would have been 50% of all she had which I'm sure would have equated to at least five times more than anyone else there.

I picture her standing, waiting for her turn embarrassed about her clothes, her shoes, her hair, and her minuscule offering. "One coin for God and one coin for me so I won't have to beg in the streets as long tomorrow. Surely God won't mind. Just look at that pile of money already on the altar." I see her rubbing the coins together with her arthritic fingers as she drew closer. "No. I will give both coins. I will give the whole mite. God has been so good to me. Today I have food in my stomach and I have shelter tonight. He will see. He will know how much I appreciate Him. I don't care what these people think they aren't the ones who have provided for me. God has and God will."

In these times of economic crises we find ourselves making every dollar stretch and flex to fit our budgets. We cancel vacations and magazine subscriptions cut back to basic cable and are more aware about turning off the lights. We do all we can do to maintain as much of our "normal" lifestyles as we can. When all of our cutbacks are said and done there is still one last temptation to wring a few extra dollars out of our leaner budgets. Some of us make this cut, before switching to basic cable, without much thought and others hold on until the temptation wears them down. The temptation is to reduce or eliminate our tithes, offerings, and charity donations.

God was amazed at one tiny little half cent that was discreetly placed among a mound of offerings and said it was worth the most because of the spirit in which it was given. A poor woman with a heart of gold gave all she had to the Creator that owns it all anyway. It is said that God will role the entire universe up as if it was an old soiled paper towel and we struggle with all our might to gain a mite's worth of what we cannot keep. We all, great and small, rich and poor, have a mite to offer no matter what our circumstances are. What can you give that would cause God to say "WOW"?