A few years ago I wrote to the editor of U S A Today (then the equal in readership with the Wall Street Journal) expressing my surprise that established financial advisors and planners writing for the paper, did not recommend that financial clients or any other persons building nest-eggs for the future make charitable contributions. These counselors were established men and women in the field of financial planning who, as a special service, evaluated portfolios presented to the publisher, large and small, from readers who were willing to reveal their financial records. They sometimes included details, such as the cost of incidentals in personal day to day functioning, but they said nothing, and I mean nothing, about giving to Church, or community or individuals in need. Persons making millions of dollars were instructed about how to spend, save, invest, plan for their own futures and that of their children, but nothing about helping others in need, or a non-profit institution trying to accomplish something the prospective donors might believe in. My letter to the editor was published. One of my sons representing his company in Detroit picked up a copy of the paper, read my letter and phoned me about it minutes after he read it. He was pleased about my point.
We noticed after the letter was published that several of the counselors recommended that some giving is appropriate to a well-ordered financial plan. But many did not, and those who did seemed to have no idea how much anyone should give. Some argued for a few hundred dollars, some several thousands. None recommended anything near the tithe – ten percent of either the gross or the take-home pay and other earnings or investments. The advice seemed to be without any idea of the principle of human need to give, which suggests that the whole business of token giving was an after-thought for them, suggested, perhaps, without conviction. When all is well for us in this or that context of life, we actually need to share that value of sharing with others. We owe each other something in sharing the same world, and the call to assist in human need and aspiration. We actually need to give something back if we achieve humility. It seems to me that Scripture offers sound principles and sub-principles for financial management. One principle is that everyone should give, partly because giving is better than receiving, but partly because there is no other way that some human needs will be met. Governments, with a high level of bureaucracy and with too little ability to discover where all the needs will appear, are not able to do what compassionate individuals working together under God can do. When persons say they cannot give, my reply is that God told Israel to give ten percent when they were just emerging from slavery and had no clear visible form of support. No one in Israel’s camp was left wanting. It was taught that all who could, would give.
So the second principle was established, give according to percentages. It is a stroke of genius, but so practical that anyone can live by it – to live by percentages. If I am not prospered, so that my tenth is small, then God’s take is also small. If I do well, and follow the percentage route, he also does well. God is willing to share in my poverty for his purposes, and willing to share in my plenty. He is not moved by the amount, but by the wisdom of following the route to prosperity for his house and, possibly, for the family of the giver. We do not give to be prospered. Giving is a loving means for meeting and managing needs.
Living by percentages helps to keep me from getting caught in debt, makes me a more careful administrator of my affairs, and teaches me much about the practicality of life including elements of worship. That worship includes voluntary presentation of a percentage of whatever God gives me. God uses it for others, persons who need what the tithe can provide. I have tried to apply the concept to the use of my time for daily living. There are many ways to give to God, and all really relates to the value of time in my life. To give monetarily to God is to credit the giving of my time in earning as a factor of thanksgiving. For the humanist it becomes a part of the common grace of humanism. It offers to others the sharing of life in a world needing human compassion. The context in the Hebrews reference above affirms the matter as a factor in offering to the future. (We continue this theme next year for seniors.) Our point here is to begin to evaluate ourselves with the percentages we give to godly life. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020