They almost always start out with this sentence: "I read this verse in the Bible..."
Then, they'll talk a little about their history of wavering faith or spiritual skepticism. After that, they tell you about that one time...
That one time.
That one time they took a chance and did what scared them the most. That one time they had no other choice but to dive in headfirst.
Well, that's not my story. At least, it doesn't start that way. I've always had faith that God would do what he said he'd do. Whether or not I hold up my end of the bargain, he's faithful. What I won't let go of is my sin. My bad habits. My reputation. What my wife has a hard time giving up? Money.
The verse was Malachi 3:10. Bring the whole tithe (tenth) 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 enough room for it."
What? The Lord of lords who killed people in the Old Testament for questioning him, inviting you to test his Word? Whaaaaat?
So we did.
Like I said, I never had a problem tithing. If someone told me "you give me $20 and next week I'll give you $200. Then you give me $200, and the following week I'll give you $2000," it wouldn't be very hard for me to toss him twenty bucks and wait a week. That's not exactly what God says here, but it's the same concept: you give me money (or as God puts it in verse 9, "stop robbing me"), and I'll bless you for it.
My wife is the one who would ask "how can I trust that you'll bless me? I need this $20 or I'll die..."
...which makes it all the more significant that she gives anyway.
I'll say that again: She's scared to tithe - it scares her to death - but she gives it up anyway.
Wow. I wish I had that kind of faith. I wish I could stare my fear in the face and actively and willingly give it to God. You wanna see a wife who follows her husband even when she's unsure of where he's leading her? Look no further than her.
But here's the fun part.
God always seems to do things in three's when he wants my attention. We've been tithing consistently for three weeks now. This past Monday, I was at work and wanted a Dr. Pepper from the vending machine to go with my Hot Pocket. I got there and realized that my wallet was empty. I turned around to leave, accepting the reality that there would be no DP for me that day, and lo and behold, a crisp, unfolded (I'm talkin' mint condition) 1-dollar bill sat there on the floor in front of me, lying in the path I walked when I entered the room, just looking at me like those bills in the Geico commercials. I got my drink.
Then today, I remembered to bring a dollar, so when I went to get my soda, the mechanism inside the machine rumbled and tumbled for about 20 seconds, then stopped. Nothing came out. I turned to leave once again, and this time I was by the door when I heard the "klunk." Then a pause, and another "klunk." Two bottles for a dollar. I know it's not uncommon for drink machines to spit out two at a time, but think about it:
In a 3-day period, I got 3 sodas for a dollar, after tithing faithfully for 3 weeks in a row.
Now Ryan, that's really neat and all, but if tithing is easy for you and hard for your wife, shouldn't she have been the one who was blessed through the tithing?
Well, if God operated on the basis of complete and total 100% mathematical fairness, I suppose that would be a safe assumption. But he doesn't. Besides, Glennda got a promotion.
Not just a "promotion" promotion, either. Our income bumped up by 16%.
In the end, after crunching the numbers, it turns out that when we (my wife and I) give God ten percent of our income, he'll give us sixteen back. And a couple sodas to top it off.
So that's our story. It all started with us reading a verse. We'd always taken it for granted in the past, but this time - this one time - we decided to bite the bullet and write the check. And God came through. Now, the verse says he'll bless us so much that we won't have room for it. If that's the case, then that just means he isn't finished yet. And you can bet we'll be tithing every week until he is. Or 'til we die. Whichever comes first.
Up next, Proverbs 21:20.
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