What Does God Expect Me to Give?

Recently, we had a gathering of college interns, and this took me back to the late 80's as we remembered going to late night dinners after we were done with the evening activities.  We would usually go to Denny's because they had a Grand Slam breakfast for $1.99.  

The tipping standard back then was 10% and so if you ordered a water, the poor wait person might receive two dimes for their trouble that evening.

Since then, American society has recognized that our wait staff should be compensated more since their wages may dip below minimum wage.  The standard for tipping has moved from 10 to 15 to 20% or more.  During Covid, when they were risking more to serve us, we started doing better collectively as a society.  Now many options on card readers start with 20 and include 22 and 25 percent as possibilities.

While some still stiff our wait staff, there has been more pressure from society to be generous.

As we think about what we give back to God, the church's standard has long been the tithe or 10%.  While this has been a goal or high bar for our church members, the average gift calculated on an annual basis for church-going Americans has been closer to 2.5%.

What is interesting is that the average has fallen through the years.  And while some blame inflation or the economy on their lack of giving, it's been reported that during the Great Depression, the average gift was 3.3%!  

The tithe comes from biblical expression as an expectation for supporting the Levitical tribe which were responsible for worship and didn't inherit land.  There are several mentions of it in Mosaic law.  This likely originates from the earlier example of Jacob when he makes a covenant with God and vows to give one-tenth.

Within the early church, there were examples of people that gave all they had to the congregation which far exceeded the tithe!  This has fallen out of vogue.    

While Sheryl and I have tithed as our starting place for giving since we began in ministry as a married couple, we know that this is not adopted across the board.  Some calculate their annual income and see what they gave the previous year and recognize that because it is not even close to a tithe, they do not even try.  But for the faithful, despair is not a good baseline for behavior.

One practice that has been helpful for many is to figure what percentage they are currently giving.  If it does look to be on average at 2%, the question becomes not can I give a tithe or 10% next year, but can I move toward a tithe.  Could I give 3% in the coming year?  What would I have to adjust in my budget to do so? Are there things I wouldn't purchase for myself in order to do so?

Now we are beginning to understand sacrificial giving.  

Since I started this with the example of tipping, I wanted to be clear that giving back to God through the church is not the same thing at all.  A tip is historically thought-of as appreciation for a service well-done.  One could even look at the language that Jacob uses in the referenced scripture above as almost the same thing.  

But to tip God as if God were working for us gives the wrong impression of our place in the universe.  We give because God is asking us to support work that is larger than ourselves.  We are seeking to support and give voice to the grace of God in the world today.  

That is surely worth a second look at what percentage we give.  That is surely worth a bit of sacrifice on our part.  That's my tip for the day! 

Photo by Joits via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.