There was a period a couple of years ago that Adam and I went several months with out contributing any money to any congregation or cause whatsoever. We were feeling fine doing the paycheck to paycheck thing while Adam was in law school, but then our finances got hit big time. Somehow, we egregiously miscalculated our taxes the previous year when I had been teaching private lessons and we found out that we owed 4000 dollars to the government. There was no way we could have paid it. This was a wake up call for us and after praying about it, we decided that we should make our first tithe in months to get our finances back in line. The next day, Adam saw a poster at his law school advertising the continuing education tax credits. He never knew about it and had not claimed it that year or the previous year. After some recalculation, our tax bill was completely neutralized thanks to Obama. Just kidding......thanks to God.
A lot of people would just call that a coincidence. People get really uncomfortable when you start to talk about God rewarding "good" acts and punishing "bad" acts. I'm sure there were people holier and more generous than me and Adam who had to pay their full tax bill that year and some people might use that fact to argue that our "coincidence" was not directly from God. Granted, I don't think God is following us around making good things happen to us when we are good and making bad things happen when we are bad. I do, however, think that God takes care of people who are trying to take care of other people in some pretty interesting ways. I think a couple of things happen when you give. 1) I think it changes the heart of the giver. When you have perspective on the blessings you have from God, you are freed from wanting more and more. That helps finances in itself because you don't constantly buy crap you don't need. 2) I also think God brings money from unexpected, perhaps even miraculous, sources when you give even though you think you don't have the resources. A lot of people manipulate this idea to preach the gospel of prosperity, the idea that if you just love God, contribute a little here and there, and work hard, you'll be set. I once saw a license plate Pslm374 on a 60,000 dollar Mercedes. The Psalm is "delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." That license plate really grossed me out. If your delight is only in the Lord, do you still desire a Mercedes? I'm not trying to condemn Mercedes buyers, but I don't agree with boasting that you have a nice car because you love God.
Anyway, I'll get to the point. The point is, Adam and I have been making the same financial mistake of not giving for the past several months. I think this has set us back financially and spiritually. Call me crazy, but I think contributing our money could very well make our debt go away faster rather than slower. That may not make any sense, and I don't have any proof of that other than very little experience and a gut feeling, but we're going to give it a shot anyway. Thanks for reading.
