I find it interesting that children demonstrate such a strong sense of possession. For instance, Anna and Seth may not have any interest in a particular toy of theirs, but the moment the other wants to play with it he or she is quick to proclaim their domain with a loud and clear, "Hey, that's mine!"
Early on children learn to hold on tight to what they call,"Mine!" Of course, what makes a young child's sense of ownership even more interesting is the reality that everything they possess is given to them. My 4 and 2 year old cannot say they have worked for anything they have received. They call my and Kimberly's house theirs, but their names are not on the title. They say the vehicles are their van and their car, but last I checked they have never made a car payment. The truth is everything they have is mine, not theirs. However, they live as though they are the reason they have what they have.
Of course, our children learn this from us adults. Just because we earn a pay check and pay the bills, we believe that all that we have is ours. Its my house, my car, my TV, my bed, my snow blower, my money...because I have it, we conclude, it makes it mine. Just because we believe that does not make it true. The truth is, that is the farthest thing from the truth. The truth is, nothing we have is ours.
The Bible says, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." The Creator is the only one on earth who has the right to claim domain over anything on earth. Its not my house or my car or my money...its His! I would not have anything without him having created the substance out which all that I have is manufactured. God is the source of all and there by the rightful owner of all. Everything that I have is merely entrusted to me by God. My house is really God's house. My car is God's car. My money is God's money. This means that what I have I am to treat with care and to hold loosely because, after all, nothing is mine; it is all His.
This is one of the reasons Kimberly and I give tithe and offerings. A tithe is 10 percent of one's income. Malachi 3:10 says that if we do not give God 10 % of the money we earn to his work on earth then we are robbing God. Yeah, that is a strong statement, but it is a true statement...if everything is God's and he asks us to give a portion of what is his back to him, then if we do not do so we are robbing Him.
But then Malachi 3 goes on to explain that we are not just robbing God, we are robbing ourselves. It says, "Test me on this [that is give God his 10%] and see if I don't open the flood gates of heaven to you." Kimberly and I have tested God on this and we have found him to be true to his word. He has never left us without what we need. In fact, he has opened his flood gates to us. I could share many examples of how God has asked us to give over and beyond our tithe and we do not know where the money is going to come from, but we give it and then, in amazing ways, money comes from unexpected sources. I can also share how God has opened his flood gates to us in non-monetary ways by us being willing to give what he asks of us. The truth is...if you do not trust God enough to give him what he asks, you are not holding on to what you need, you are robbing yourself of what God wants to pour into your life.
Do you realize that if everyone who says they believe in Jesus would do what Jesus says with tithe and offerings, then 30,000 children would not be dying daily of starvation, 1 child would not die every 15 seconds from unclean water, 15,000 Africans would not die to day due to preventable and curable disease, 40% of the world's population would not have to survive on less than $2 a day and 143 million orphans would be cared for in a way that today they can only dream of?
People regularly ask me, "Pastor, how can I tithe in my current financial situation?" My answer is, you must do what Kimberly and I do. We adjust our lives to live on 90% and then we always have at least 10% to give. It will mean you have to decide if you trust God or not. This is not a money issue. It is a trust issue. If you trust God when he says test me on this and I will open the flood gates to you, then it will be worth you adjusting your living to the 90% he entrusts you with...what will that mean for you? I don't know. I know for us, God has asked us to give over 10% and so it has meant we have made a choice not to have cable and not to have texting and not to ever by clothes unless they are on sale at the end of the season, etc...the point is, when God asks us to do something we must decide if we are going to trust him.
So, next time you hear a child holler, "Mine", ask yourself if your life is teaching him or her that everything they and we have is "HIS."
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