Holy robbery: tithing

The topic of tithe makes me uncomfortable. I always imagine some preacher, usually dressed in a greasy white suit, and for some reason with a southern accent, imploring his congregation to give on faith as he passes the tithe baskets around one more time. Maybe its from the tele-evangelists.

Anyway, tithing doesn't seem to be a popular topic. Probably because it makes most of us feel bad. A 2007 survey by the Barna Group found that 24% of evangelicals tithed. In the most affluent society in the history of the world, only a quarter of us find ourselves able to shell out 10% of our income to do God's work. I don't believe tithing is usually a problem of ability, but rather a problem of attitude.

In 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Paul explains, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

So what does this mean? I don't believe we should necessarily focus on the 10% mark as what we should give. To me, this is holding to law. Instead, we should practice this principle of giving cheerfully from what we have. If everyone committed to giving what he felt called by God to give, and did so with a cheerful heart, I think giving would increase. People would eventually give over 10% because they would see that the more they gave, the more they “reaped.” We must trust God to be faithful, and not give out of compulsion, but out of love.

On marriage and race

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands (Revelation 7:9).”

Its a beautiful picture. People of every background, skin color, dress, and culture worshiping God in amazing ways. Yet, shouldn't this be our vision for the church on earth?
If God will have a beautiful picture of people around him, shouldn't our churches and families reflect this?

In that light, if I brought home a girl who was a different ethnicity or from a different culture than me, I believe my parents would be over-joyed. In fact, I think they would have a special excitement if she were from a different ethnicity. This is because of the fact that God has given them a special love for the vast peoples of the earth, and they embrace those people.

That is not to say, however, that they may warn me of some of the challenges of marrying and living with someone of another culture. Because cultures have such different ways of communicating and doing every-day life, this can bring unique challenges. But I believe these challenges could actually be beneficial as they can expose more of our own preconceived notions of the norm. A challenge is a beautiful thing, something God may put in our lives so that we may grow as people.

Another challenge that could come from marrying someone of another ethnicity is the fact your children will be of mixed heritage. This could bring about confusion of cultures, as well as be a source of harassment from people who are bigots.

However, I believe correct parenting and love can overcome these problems. If you teach your children to embrace both heritages, they will have a strong identity.

With people harassing them, I don't think this is a legitimate excuse not to marry someone of another ethnicity. Just because the world tells us to give in to evil, we should not do it. Just because the world tells us not to love, we need to love even more. This is no exception with our children.

God calls us to spread His love to all ethnicities and cultures. There should be no difference in our marriages, which are supposed to be the epitome of real love.

Heaven and Hell

Is there a heaven and a hell? The topic is a bit sticky for Christian.

It just doesn't feel right to condemn people to hell, and say that because they didn't pray a prayer and have the belief that I did, that they will have to spend eternity in the most agonizing pain imaginable (and unimaginable).

I do have serious problems and doubts with saying there is a literal hell. It doesn't seem logical to punish people for eternity for a non-eternal sin. What about the people who never heard the name of Jesus? Isn't Jesus' victory over sin powerful enough for everyone, living and dead?
However, the more I play out these questions, the more I make judgments on God. I simply cannot do that. To try to look into His eternal plan is like an ant trying to imagine the vastness of the universe. All I know is the minute world I am living in. At times, God's perspectives and reasons are outside the realm of human comprehension.

That being said, my philosophy for this whole business of hell goes back to the mountaineer's (sorry to keep up the mountain-climbing analogies) saying, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

I sincerely hope there is a way everyone will be saved. Maybe hell won't will be a more of a “separation from God” sort of thing. Maybe it'll be just a darkness or something like that.
However, I must believe and act based on the assumption that hell will be just that- more terrible than our worst fears.

The avowed atheist Penn (of the magician show Penn & Teller) relates a story of after one of his shows, a man came up to him, talked to him a bit, handed him a Bible, and told him he was praying for him. Penn's reaction was remarkable. A few days later, he put up a video post on youtube talking about how if what Christians believe is true, if we are going to hell if we don't accept Jesus' message, and if we truly love others, we should be doing anything we can to tell people about Jesus.

This resonates with me. Our message should be urgent. We need to live our life in continual fear of hell.

I'm not advocating going on a street corner and yelling at people to repent, but I am advocating that we take every opportunity, every chance to sincerely share the Gospel.

sanctification is hard

As a follow-up question to “sanctification,” my web writing professor asked me, basically, “why don't we see more sanctified people?"

I have to agree with him that this world is conspicuously lacking in those who could be called sanctified. However, In John 17:16-17, Jesus prays, “They [meaning us whom have accepted Jesus as our Savior] are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

This has powerful implications. It means that in fact we are sanctified. We are set apart. We are free from sin's power. Yet, we can still make the choice to fall into sin. We still choose to live apart from truth, which is God's word. This is life's great struggle.

So why do we see so many people who appear to be living in denial of their sanctification?

Personally, I think its because this world is hard! We live in a place that chews you up and spits you out. This week on campus, there was a sort of time of “revival” in which people spontaneously started sharing their sins with one another, and gathering around each other in love. What struck me the most about this time was not the things people confessed, but the terrible suffering they had gone through.

People are broken. They have been abused, kicked down, laughed at, and spit on.

In many ways, we are continually struggling with sin as a result of our environment. To go back to the mountain-climbing analogy, climbing Mount Everest is terrible. It blows my mind why people like to do that sort of thing. It is not fun. It is freezing. The oxygen debilitates their bodies. The wind shoves them on their face. Each step is an exercise in agony. If it were possible to observe these climbers without seeing the gruesome conditions of their environment, we might say, “Why are they moving so slow? These people are pitiful.” However, when we see the mountains of snow, impossible inclines, and imagine the cold, our response is, “These people are heroes.”

Another great illustration I heard from Cy Rogers is that when we observe people in their efforts to be sanctified, it appears they are continually going in a circle: they seem to be making progress, but then come back again to the same sin.


However, this perspective is limited. If we are able to see the entire picture, as God sees it, we would see that in fact these people are spiraling upward. They may come back to the sin and struggle with it, but they are moving upward toward a holier life. Sanctification is possible. In fact, we have been freed from sin and are sanctified by God's sacrifice. Yet, we still must struggle against the elements, brave the cold, and make the decision to press onward. To take the next agonizing step forward. To ignore the world that clings its icy fingers to our feet, desperately grasping to pull us back down, and instead steady our focus upward, on God, and trust fully in Him.

sanctification

Sanctification is a lot like climbing a mountain. Not just a small hike of a few hours, but a huge mountain, like Mt. Everest. I read that in order to climb Mt. Everest, the climbers will slowly ascend to higher and higher "camps" and spend a night or two up there, and then descend to a lower elevation, just to adjust to the altitude. They slowly work their way up the mountain in this way, until they are able to reach the top.

At the beginning of their climb, they could never survive at the top. The lack of oxygen would kill them. But slowly, they work their way higher, getting more and more used to the rare conditions on top of the mountain. This is how we are sanctified. We do not merely go from a "sea-level" Christian to ascending the highest mountain in the world, but we slowly make our way up, sometimes ascending, at times descending, but continually pushing onward. There will be high peaks and there will be valleys. God takes us through these. We are conditioning to be sanctified.

Yet, who is it leading us or pushing us up this "mountain?" Sanctification can only come from God. As Romans 4:5 says, "However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." We by ourselves cannot be sanctified. Imagine someone dropping you off at the bottom of Mt. Everest and saying, "go climb it." It would never happen. We need the guides, the equipment, the maps, and the routes. God acts as these things, guiding and preparing us.

However, somewhere along the climb, the climbers have to dig deep into their souls ask themselves if getting to the top of the mountain is really worth it. Their brains are wheezing from the altitude, their bodies are numbed by the cold, and it all seems pointless. They have to decide if their journey is worth risking their lives, giving it all up, and pushing for the summit.

We too must make this decision. God has equipped us with all the right gear. He's our guide, pushing us into every step. But somewhere along the path, we must choose. Will we respond to the highs and lows God is taking us through? Will we risk our very lives for the summit?