Beyond Tithes and Offerings

“I earnestly believe that, when you become a Christian and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and the master of your life, you take God at his word, and grow in faith. Many people are “hot tube” Christians. They stick their foot in, just enough but not too deep, but when it becomes uncomfortable, they take it out. They don’t want to change their lives; they don’t want to stop living the way that they are living, thusly, limiting the power of God in their lives. They never allow themselves to get wet, to struggle through those uncomfortable feelings and come through it a “new and better” person. They never totally commit, they want the church membership, to sing in the choir, usher, or be recognized as doing something worthwhile, but they are never “all in”. This book is dedicated to those Christians, because if you are not all in, you are not in at all.”

“I am the granddaughter of a farmer from rural Pollocksville, in Jones County North Carolina. I can boldly declare that I have never met a farmer that planted a seed and didn’t expect a harvest. My grandfather had one hundred seventy five acres, and he farmed the land and shaped my faith, which developed my understanding of the aforementioned scriptures. It transmogrified my life. My grandfather, Solomon Franks, was three-times a widower, with a self-sufficient farm. He reared twenty-three children on that farm, and schooled them in a one-room school house that was warmed with a pot-belly stove, near the Craven County and Jones County borderline. It was a place of higher education, although it only provided the best possible first through eighth grade education for all of his children, including my mother, until the eighth grade. …. Just like a farmer always expect a harvest. I pay tithes with the full knowledge that I contribute to the funds needed to support the worship service and missionary responsibilities.”

As a American Baptist I insert myself into the Biblical text, accepting it as true, acknowledging that God is a memory and an expectation. The Hebrews Scriptures are an ever-present reminder of the historical and miraculous relationship that was established between Elohim and Israel, and that that relationship was further extended to the Gentiles. God does not change and does not lie. He has never failed in the past in His relationship with ancient Isreal, and He is faithful in His promises, even though we are often unfaithful to Him.