Keeping 90%

27 Sep 2004

We started a new series at church last night, on money and how we think about and manage it. In the first of five talks, we looked at the relationship which exists between God and money.

It was… very helpful, I think, in terms of perspective. The thing which struck me most about the talk was a reference made to 1 Chronicles 29:14-16:

1 Chronicles 29

¹⁴ “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. ¹⁵ We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. ¹⁶ O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.

There’s a passage in the Old Testament, before Jesus came along, which instructs the people of Israel to give a tenth of all they get. One reference is Deuteronomy 26:11-13, which instructs them to “set… aside a tenth of all your produce” to give away.

Later on, in the New Testament, Jesus critcises the religious teachers of the day for being hypocritical in the way they’re following God’s law. In Luke 11:42, Jesus says “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” Obviously, Jesus is critical of the religious teachers (Pharisees) here… so, how much should we give?

The Chronicles passage quoted above puts everything in perspective for me. Contextually, this is being written just after a great temple has been built for God by the Israelites… the Israelites giving so that this could happen. But King David says “Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you…”

So, everything comes from God. Okay. This is the killer bit: “…we have given only what comes from your hand.” The translation I’m using doesn’t put exclamation marks after that statement, but I think there should be. They’re not really giving anything! Everything they (and, consequently, we) have was given to them by the Lord — it already belonged to him!

This really changes the way that I think about everything… it’s not as though I would be giving 10%; I’d be keeping 90%.

“It comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.”