A Generous Heart

When Moses told the children of Israel about the contributions need for the construction of the Tabernacle, he said, "Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord's contribution: gold, silver and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece."  (Exodus 35:5-9)

The people gave so much that the craftsmen in charge of making everything told Moses to tell the people to stop bringing their offerings because "the people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do." (Exodus 36:4-5) They kept a record of what was used and it turned out to be over 1 ton of gold, about 3 1/2 tons of silver and 3 tons of bronze. (Exodus 38:24-31) Plus all the "soft" goods and precious stones.

Reading this made me wonder what it would be like if ALL God's people had a generous heart today. There are many very generous people in churches across the globe but statistically only 5% to 7% of "church" people tithe and that is down to around 4% with the economic downturn.

Imagine what would happen if 10% or 15% of God's children would tithe. Or what if 50% to 75% tithed. Can you even conceive of EVERYONE who claims Christ giving a mere 10% of their income to God's house? How would our country be different? Would we need less government intervention? Would God's Church take up their role to care for the poor and the widows and the orphans? Would we end hunger and homelessness in our neighborhoods or our country or even the world?

And what if we went beyond the tithe to New Testament giving which was much more generous than tithing? Unfortunately in America, we love our money and our stuff and our comfort. All too often we upgrade to a new data plan on our phones before we upgrade our giving to God's work.

"What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul." (Mark 8:36) It really is all about our hearts. Surrendering everything to Jesus including our money. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21).