I regularly attend conference executive committees, which are responsible for operating our conferences. One item always on the agenda is the financial report and the continuing struggle for enough money to nurture our growing membership and evangelism outreach.
Let me ask you about your own personal finances and giving habits. Even though this is often considered a personal matter not to be invaded by anyone outside the family, I am going to probe your thinking on this matter anyway. We talk too little about what God expects from us and often forget there is a point at which He looks on us as thieves. That is certainly not a good position to be in if we are requesting from Him the free gift of salvation.
“‘Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.’ But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 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 you will not have room enough for it’” (Malachi 3:8-10, NIV).
In one of the conferences I visited recently, nearly half the churches are showing a tithe loss for the year. A number of the churches are way behind on their school subsidy. Yet, members of those churches expect a pastor to be there on Sabbath morning, or when someone is discouraged, sick or dies. They want someone to lead out in evangelism. They want Christian education to be available for their children. But when it comes time to supply the funds to make it possible, it seems too many consider it someone else’s responsibility.
God’s Viewpoint
Here are some of the thoughts we need to keep in mind when it comes to how we handle our money. These are all concepts from God, so if you don’t like them, then realize you and God are not thinking alike.
“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything your land produces. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with the finest wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10, NLT).
“The gold and silver are the Lord's, and He could rain them from heaven if He chose; but instead of this He has made man . . . the medium through which to distribute His blessings on earth” (4T 473).
“The majority of professed Christians part with their means with great reluctance. Many of them do not give one twentieth of their income to God, and many give far less than that; while there is a large class who rob God of the little tithe, and others who will give only the tithe” (4T 474).
“Those who have thought that to withhold from God is gain, will eventually experience His curse as the result of their robbery of the Lord. . . .Indifference in this matter shows that you are in blindness and deception, and are unworthy of the Christian name” (4T 476).
“God's requirements come first. We are not doing His will if we consecrate to Him what is left of our income after all our imaginary wants have been supplied . . . . When that which God claims is rendered to Him, the remainder will be sanctified and blessed to our own use. But when a man robs God by withholding that which He requires, His curse rests upon the whole” (4T 477).
I suspect if we are really honest with ourselves in this matter of money, it reveals more selfishness than we want to admit. Won’t you make this a matter of sincere prayer for divine guidance?
Sincerely your friend,
Tom Mostert, President
Pacific Union Conference
P.O. Box 5005
Westlake Village, CA 91361
4T = “Testimonies for the Church,” Ellen White
