On Giving

Giving(aka tithing in the Christian world) has been part of my life ever since my parents enrolled me to Daily Vacation Bible School(DVBS) when I was in grade 5. At that short class, it was already impressed in my heart the reverence to God and His sovereignty and our role to give 10% of our earnings back to God (yup, even if I was already soooo kuripot then).

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. - Malachi 3:10(NIV)

Two of my inspirations that exhibited this Bible principle are:
1. William Colgate of the famous Colgate toothpaste
2. and Quaker Oats founder Henry Crowell

...both gave a huge percentage of their income to Church... even more than the percentage that they actually kept(see links to their names above for their testimonies)... yet both their companies are still surviving and if not two of the most successful companies for the last century.

For me, I was Catholic before and I was already giving Php20/week to church after DVBS which when I think about it now, it was more than 10% of my weekly allowance. I had my slips but I always bounced back because God will convict me. And I'd like to think I was a blessed individual because of this, I would pray for my exams religiously then and did my best, so even if sometimes I had no idea how I passed because I was not the smartest in class... I still managed to graduate Valedictorian. I also didn't find myself lacking anything both materially and in other things that matters. I feel kinda spoiled to God in this way like God is saying "Don't worry, I will take care of you and your family". My tithing continues from whatever I received for my allowance until my college days. There are times that I would struggle on tithing and saving personally because I truly love to save as well, but most of the time God finds a way to convict me and put me back on track. Imagine being able to graduate BS Physics when I didn't even understand the abstractness of Quantum Physics...Only God made me pass that subject...and that in itself is a huge blessing for me.

As I started working, my tithing would also increase because naturally my salary increases as time passes... You see I have this kind of relationship with God wherein I can talk to Him anytime anywhere and sometimes I dialogue with Him on my mind even if there are other people around, making sumbong, saying sorry when I snapped at my officemates or got irritated by someone, seeking help, and just plainly updating Him about my day and wanting to hear His voice and get direction on my decisions...

So for all these times, I thought I was doing well in this area of giving. I only struggle most of the time with sacrificial giving which is giving in addition to tithing like a year or so ago but not so much in tithing... In fact, I could testify to blessings brought about by obedience to tithing and cheerful giving because remember my worry that time was not being able to earn dollar again, but God was just able to send me back to the US without hassle and more than the dollars, I had an experience of a lifetime.

So yeah, I was confident I didn't have problem on this area... so I thought... until one morning while I was showering, God convicted me in terms of not including my extra incomes to the tithe. I was only tithing 10% of my regular net salary, making the extra incomes bonuses but looks like God is not happy with that and He made me feel as if I was robbing Him of what I should be giving Him. So I said my sorry and rectified it immediately after a minor struggle. I also prayed that God will open my heart willingly every month to do this as I want to be a cheerful giver.

And last last Sunday, this popped up to me in the Sunday service:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; 
   the LORD bestows favor and honor; 
no good thing does he withhold 
   from those whose walk is blameless. - Psalm 84:11(NIV)

Pastor Bong without knowing what's going on in my head and also with a different topic being discussed altogether(about Jealousy and Envy) also mentioned that "God gives the work and the ability to work" and "God's blessing is not limited to material blessing".  I felt this is God's way of communicating to me. He could as easily give work and remove it depending on His purpose and all my resources are from Him, so why oh why would I struggle giving? (tsk tsk... Human Nature)

Now the answer and if I may say one of the blessings for obeying proper tithing came just before the long weekend... I lost my focus at work ever since I gave birth, my friends knew that, my bosses mentioned it... yeah yeah I finished my work and all my tasks but my heart was not in the work at all and I would rather stay with Yonky at home and I said to God, "don't let me leave this place until I have justified myself, prove my capabilities and bring back the glory to You".... and finally after almost 3 years and so much suspense and anxiety, I finally did that based on my performance last year. My bosses told me to keep it up =)

Hence, I was so in the groove to sing this to God now(I truly love singing and dancing to Him as music is my most favorite form of worship)... Enjoy!

YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH

by

Chris Tomlin

A blessed blessed FY12 to all of us! I worship thee God for Your faithfulness!