Playing God's Lottery

A lottery is defined as "a means of raising money by selling numbered tickets and giving prizes to the holders of numbers drawn at random." If somebody told you that they spent 10% of their income on lottery tickets, how would you react? Most likely you would be shocked and tell them that is probably not the best use of their finances nor the best way in which to make more money. Perhaps you would encourage them to save that money and seek a financial counselor of some sort. The chances of that person winning the lottery are slim; 1 in 175 million by some calculations. Yet, in general, this is the same sort of belief system or philosophy we bring into our Christian life in many ways. We call it tithing. Now, I am all in favor of tithing; biblical tithing. Biblical tithing is giving a tenth of your produce, not your income, to the Levitical Priesthood. Not only does the Levitical Priesthood, at this time in history, not exist, most people don't produce anything to give to it if it did. Besides, Christians are not Jews under the Mosaic Law. However, what is taught in most churches regarding tithing and what many Christians believe it to be is not much different than playing a lottery. People who play the lottery are basically giving a portion of their income in order to receive back a fortune in return. Within the Church, Malachi 3:10 is often cited as a proof text for this teaching. "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." I have heard Christians say that their local church is the "storehouse" of God, which is not supported by this text at all. But, the lure of this teaching is that the Lord will "open the floodgates of heaven" and bless you beyond your wildest imagination if you only give your money. I call this playing God's lottery.

Usually, the only one getting blessed is the pastor and the church. They raise money by selling the congregation on the fact that you are giving "through" them to God. And God will in turn bless you by opening those floodgates. There will always be a handful of people that will give a testimony of a turnaround in their life based on their supposed tithing. However, I know from experience that their are many more people that end up in financial ruin because they have "tithed" and didn't get God's blessings as promised. There is nothing wrong with giving to your church, just don't call it a tithe. Furthermore, if you are giving in order to be blessed by God it not only shows that you probably don't understand the blessings you already have in Christ, but that you are only looking to have your flesh blessed. The Bible says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1;3)" and "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (2 Peter 1:3)." If you already have every spiritual, not physical, blessing and everything you need for a godly life, what else do you need? What do you hope to get from God through your "tithe"\ that you don't already possess? Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they (Matthew 6:26)?" As born again Christians we are much more valuable than the birds. In fact, we are so valuable that God indwells each of us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We give of our time, talent and treasure, not to have our flesh blessed in return. We give because we have already been spiritually blessed and want to share that blessing with those around us and with those that proclaim this message of salvation we have embraced through faith in Jesus Christ. That is something worthy of giving 100%!