Gracepoint Church, Peabody
I read a story about a man who received a collection letter from a company to which he owed money. He wrote back and said, “Dear Sir, Every month I take all the bills I have and put them on the table, shuffle them, and pick out six, which I pay. Now, if I have any more trouble out of you, next month you’ll be out of the shuffle entirely.”
For many, the church has been left out of the shuffle. No Bible-believing Christian would deny that God expects us to give of our resources to support the church, but many of those same believers see it as a suggestion rather than a command. Or they see giving as something that they should spend their excess cash on; but the problem is that there is never any cash left over for the offering. In essence, we’ve created tippers rather than tithers.
If we only give when we find it convenient or painless, we will find that those times very rarely appear. And so the church is shuffled out of the family budget. Preachers grow weary of speaking about the financial needs of the church — and the financial responsibilities of members — because they don’t want to be seen as materialistic or self-serving (after all, the church pays their salaries). And no preacher wants the reputation of being one who “is always begging for money.”
Do yourself, your church, and your preacher a favor and give without having to be asked.