Tipping God

Tipping God 

“Behold a certain man went with a friend into a place to eat. After the lunch the waitress brought the bill and the man, in the sight of his friend, placed a sum of money beneath his plate. The friend was amazed and asked what this money is. The man replied that it is the customary thing to do to place 15% of the bill under the plate. The friend was confused. A waitress served the man for a few minutes and he gave her 15% of the bill. His Heavenly Father has served him all his life, given him every good and perfect gift and the man is offended when asked to give something to support the work of his Heavenly Father. Does the man think more of the waitress than he does of his Lord?” (Author unknown).

The eternal struggle of man has always been the ingratitude for what God has done for him every day. Jesus reminds us that God “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Paul and Barnabas pleaded with the citizens of Lystra to know the “living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:15-17). Selfish man believes that he has the power and wisdom to produce crops, glean the fields and harvest the bounty of this earth without the help of the Lord. His technology gives him a smug feeling of security that falsely belies the reality that without God man is nothing (Isaiah 40).

When men exalt their own superiority they become unthankful and futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts are darkened by the pride of life (Romans 1:18-23). Like the man in the story above the view of God is degraded in contrast to offering to others a tribute of honor. What has God done for me? Why should I honor God with my life? While the hard-working individual can expect a monetary reward for their work how can we deny God His due? People of God are asked to return the bounty of their material worth for the glory of God and often a pitiful measure is begrudging torn from their hands.

How much should I give to the Lord? Tithing was a Jewish practice removed from God’s law under Christ but now giving comes from the heart (2 Corinthians 9:6-11). Here is the test of the heart and the hand: given a choice many people submit the scraps of their wealth and sometimes begrudge that and worry about how much to give. It is not a matter of how much we give it is a matter of how much we keep. In light of that comparison how can we view what God has done for us and we do so little? We gladly tip the waiter 15% and throw a few dollars before God’s throne.

It is often said that repaying the debt we owe Christ for His sacrifice is impossible and many give that way. The amount is not the question because the Lord sees the heart of man and what he trusts in (Matthew 6:19-21). Loving God so much and trusting Him so little to care for our earthly needs drives our motives for giving (or not giving). The fool of Luke 12 left all he had on earth when he died because he was not rich toward God (Luke 12:13-21). Life is not about the abundance of things we have because what we have is an abundance of God’s blessings if we trust in Him.