In tithe secrets, Church Development shares how those who give 10%+ of their income to the church came to that realization. Today's tither had his perspective shifted when he realized tithing was a sacrificial form of worship.
“Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase” -- Proverbs 3:9 (NKJV)
Last time I shared one of these tither secrets, I shared from a natural tither—someone seemingly gifted with the understanding of the value of generosity and had reaped its blessings ever since—but not all tithers are born and easily bred to this standard. Todays testimony* comes from a tither who had to wrestle with the painful sacrifice of tithing (and sometimes still does so today):
“To me, anything that is sacrificial is worship. In the Old Testament, their worship was to sacrifice an animal. It was their way to trust in God. All my life, giving money to God was usually a sacrifice, but again, a way to trust in God.
“The conviction for me came 30 years ago in Proverbs 3:9—honoring the Lord with the firstfruits of my crops. Honoring God is a part of worship, too. I really got burned on giving, so I had quite a journey to go through to get that conviction, but God is worthy of honor and worship, and that includes my financial giving.”
It truly is God's worthiness that will make the sacrifice seem worth it, especially as God is so willing to bless such sacrifice.
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*Note that the exact words in these posts may not always be correct, but it's a faithful representation of what these people said.
Denis Greene is the Founder and President of Church Development. He is the author of The Stewardship System, Stewardship-Based Capital Campaigns, and How To Ask For Donations as well as numerous articles on stewardship. Denis has helped over 200 churches across the USA raise more than $200,000,000.
A complete list of Church Development’s services (including capital campaign management and consultation, feasibility studies, and year-round stewardship ministry programming) is available here.