The Itsy Bitsy Paycheck

Here is a new take on the old child’s rhyme, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”.  I saw this and thought it was a perfect rhyme to share during stewardship!  “The itsy-bitsy paycheck just posted to my account.  Down came the bills and wiped the money out.”  I think most of us have felt this way at some time.  Through the years I have known people who would skip church if they knew money was going to be talked about.  Some people think giving at church costs them their money….the hardest thing for people to give up!  I think tithing brings great news!  Even if the bills wiped your money out!  Once you KNOW that all good things come from God, you know it is His anyway!  James 1: 17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  

This is what God says!  Deuteronomy 14: 22, “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.”  Over 1300 times God talks about finances.  How we hand our money affects our relationship with God.  As He says, we can only serve one Master.  I like the saying that you can either handle your money or it will handle you.  We are to be good stewards of our money.  Stewards were servants of a large household who were entrusted with administering the affairs on behalf of the owner.  Is this not what God is calling us to be?  We can tithe no matter what our financial status is.  Do not let financial hardships or an itsy bitsy paycheck stand in the way.  No one has ever become poor by giving.

Tithing is all about trusting God, giving regularly and cheerfully.  Scripture does not give God’s people an alternative to tithing.  We tithe because it keeps God at the top of our priority list.  We are to give God the first and best of what we earn, not our leftovers.  If we give first to God it shows what we value most and it builds our trust and faith in Him.  Giving to God first helps us to rise above greed, helps us manage His resources wisely and opens us up to receive God’s blessings.  When we give to God first, He just makes the rest work out - even if it is an itsy bitsy paycheck!

We cannot out give God!  Luke 6: 38, “Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Remember we can test God with our tithing.  When I began tithing I sat back and watched my finances always work out, even when it did not make sense on paper.  It was God and I was learning to trust Him.  Malachi 3: 10, “‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’  says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’”  Billy Graham said, “If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.”