God's Glorious Generosity!

Glory to God! Those are the three words you'll hear most often these days from the partners of C+C Personal Caterers - a little commercial undertaking with the Big G as CEO. So many marvelous turns of events have transpired these last couple of weeks since we officially launched our little venture, that we have no doubt of the Hand behind all of these good things.

But sometimes human nature kicks in.

My human nature, in particular, although I know that by now I should probably know better. Many times God and I like to engage ourselves in a little game of brinkmanship - how far will we (well, actually I) allow ourselves to be taken for the sake of trust and faith. With respect to financial matters, especially - I cannot begin to tell you how many times God's allowed me to teeter at the edge of the dark abyss without actually letting me fall in. By nature, I am generous to a fault, but mostly only in times of abundance - in times of necessity, that generosity is sorely tested. Even if God has proven Himself to be faithful time and again.

In the matter of tithing, for instance. Some of my non-Christian friends find it difficult to swallow the practice; heck, some of my faithful Christian friends ignore the obligation altogether. I myself have been amiss in this commitment ever since I started serving more in mission and working less in the world, but now that I look back on it, that's no excuse at all.

Some Christians argue that tithing is an antiquated practice, a quaint old imposition that went out of mode in the New Testament "supplanted" the Old. Hmmm...makes you really wonder if our God is a capricious God who changes His mind on a whim (that doesn't sound like my faithful, steadfast God). In Malachi 3:6-10, passages many Christians would rather play down or gloss over, the Lord unequivocally says: "Bring the whole tithe 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 room enough for it.'"

Test Him, He says! But many of us would rather not put Him to the test where our finances are concerned - our faith ends where our pocketbooks begin. We claim to surrender everything to God; everything, except our wallets and bank accounts. Like many Christians, that's where my human nature second-guesses the Divine.

I've witnessed all too frequently how God has "thrown open the floodgates" and poured out His blessings in my life when I tithed, but I tend to have a short memory. Especially when my own finances are a little precarious and my trust is severely tested. But just yesterday, God reminded me exactly how silly I am and how extravagantly generous and faithful to His promises He is.

I hadn't received any income, whatsoever, since the 31st - for one weird reason or another, all my "multiple sources of income" weren't paying up. So I was getting a little fidgety, especially since a big part of my assets is not liquid and with all the new projects I'd be needing to advance money for, plus the tuition for a little educational thing-y coming up... But yesterday it was raining money, Hallelujah - a lot of my payables came pouring in, and I found myself with a considerable amount of cash on hand, ready to spend it in flash. But because of the trauma-inducing "brinkmanship" match I'd just survived, I was loath to spend the money on anything and instead wanted to chuck it all into the bank where it would be safe from temptation.

Before I could do so, I remembered my renewed commitment to tithe - especially now that my time and my talents are no longer exclusively devoted to mission work. God forgive me, but it took several minutes of debating with my conscience before I could set aside 10% of the money before me - 10% that could buy so many things, be plowed back into business, and all that jazz. It took another few minutes for me to scrounge about for an envelope, stick the money in there, staple the ends to protect the tithe from my indecisiveness, and address it. And even if I'd done this so many times in the past, sometimes with a lot more money involved, it still hurt. No one said that offering the first-fruits to God would be an easy thing, especially since one is tempted to keep them to one's self. Ouch.

Although I received the grace of peace once I'd set the envelope aside, I was still briefly entertaining thoughts of changing my mind about handing it over whilst on the way to the Center for a staff meeting. Just then, my mobile phone rang. And what do you know, Glory to God!, a sudden windfall for the business when a good friend requested C+C - as a gesture of support and generosity - to cook up a whole henhouse of chickens for our upcoming anniversary. I may be kuripot in times of adversity, but God is definitely not! Thank Him that's He's not as tightfisted or worrisome as I am, and thank Him that His reassurance of abundance and the overwhelming floodgates of blessings will pour forth once we take a step out in faith, staple that tithing envelope, and offer it back to Him.

Glory to God, indeed! And that's just part of the story. :-) More blessings have been rushing at us as fast as we can rush towards them - Glory to God!

"Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." - Luke 6:30