Last Sunday my pastor started a series of sermons about “Half Truths.” He started with the saying “God helps those who help themselves.” A lot of people have the attitude that they have to do as much as they can and then God will come to their aid and do the rest. That’s the mindset behind the “Protestant Work Ethic.” It is a distortion of what God says in His Word and would have us do. A better understanding would be to say the God wants us to do the best we can with the gifts and talents He has given to us. We do that in response to what He has already done for us in Christ. He already earned our forgiveness and salvation, so our lives should be lived in grateful response to that.

During that sermon, I was reminded of a scene from one of my favorite movies: “Shenandoah.” It is a prayer that shows a wrongheaded attitude. You can watch the clip here. The family has gathered at the dinner table for a meal and the father offers this prayer:  “Lord, WE cleared this land, WE plowed it, sowed it and harvested. WE cooked the harvest. It wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be eatin’ it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway, Lord, for this food we’re about to eat. Amen.”

Is that how you feel? Is that how you act? Sometimes we seem to think everything we have is only because we worked for it. We did it. We leave God’s goodness out of the equation altogether. We discount His involvement in our lives.

For our entire married life, Cheryl and I have tithed of our gross income to our local congregation. Often times, we gave more than 10% of our earnings to carry out the mission and ministry that God has entrusted to all of us. And that does not include the gifts we give to other entities outside our congregation. And through it all,  God continued to bless us. Tremendously. It all comes from Him anyway, and He keeps giving us more. We don’t miss what we give to Him with grateful hearts.

I’ve heard some say, “I don’t make enough to tithe.” That’s a ridiculous argument. If you can’t trust God and return 10% when you’re making $100 a week you won’t give 10% when you’re making $1000 per week. It comes down to whether or not you believe God’s promise.

It saddens me to think that so many are depriving themselves of the blessings you could have if you would just trust God in this matter.  It also saddens me when I think of how a lack of first fruit giving limits congregations in what they are able to do ministry wise.

After all, that is what we are really all about. We are people who know and believe without a doubt that when Jesus came to this earth, He did it for us. We know that all of our sins and our failings and our shortcomings make us deserving of death, but Jesus took care of that for us. We have been led by the Spirit to believe that the life and death of Jesus paid for our sins and His resurrection from the dead guarantees us life everlasting. We have this faith. We want to respond to this good news with new lives, holy lives, good stewardship lives.

But things keep getting in the way. Our fears. Our uncertainties. Our doubts. Don’t let your fears and uncertainties and doubts rob you of the blessings God wants to give you, the blessings that come from living the new life to which He calls His children. Remember, He is the one who gave you His Son, gave you forgiveness, gave you salvation, and gives you everything else you have. It all belongs to Him. How are you using what God has given you for Him?