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Your Budget I have a question today. Are your cash offerings listed on your budget list? I am presuming you have some type of budget list, where you itemize all your expenses. Top of the list is your 10% tithe to the Lord, then your mortgage or rent, household bills, lunch expenses, toiletries, etc etc. Are thanksgiving offerings and freewill offerings including in this list? Have you set aside a specific amount each month for offering to the Lord? 1% of your monthly income? 2%? 3%? A cash offering is a freewill gift that the giver has decided in his heart to give to the Lord - to honor the Lord and to show eagerness to help His servants (2 Corinthians 8:19). Your tithe is not an offering since the tithe is MANDATORY (Malachi 3:10) and not voluntary. A number of Christians have the habit of going to church and when the offering is taken decide there and then whether to give and how much to give. Some decide not to give at all and simply let the bucket pass by, putting forward the argument that they were not "led" to give. Looking at the early churches and Paul's letter to the Corinthians, you will see that this type of "giving" (last minute prompted giving) is unscriptural. Paul talks a lot about "preparing" to give, "making arrangements in advance" and giving as you have "purposed" and "decided" in your heart. There is no suggestion that you are "led" to give per se, but more emphasis on the individual deciding well in advance, according to their individual means and ability, the amount they are willing to give to the Lord and His Work:
This preparedness, Paul suggests, is so that your gift is ready, not as an extortion wrung out of you but as a generous and willing gift (2 Cor. 9:5) My pastor once preached that we should write out our offering cheques before we leave home for church. In light of what Paul preached, this makes a lot of sense. Of course there will be times when you will have to exceed your budget in emergency situations. This is where "led" giving comes into play - an appeal on television; an appeal through the mail or a special offering call in your church. Only last week my church took an offering for the refugees in Kosovo. We raised $120,000 and a further $100,000 was contributed from the church coffers, resulting in almost a quarter of a million dollars ($240,000). Praise God! Hallelujah! But, before you shout and jump, please note that the $100,000 that was contributed from the church coffers was a result of the consistent and generous giving of the church members over the years/ months through offerings. Without such giving, the coffers would have been empty. To further illustrate the importance of offerings, please also note that the tithe payments of the members would not have been used in the Kosovo contribution as the tithe is strictly for the Pastor and the upkeeping of the church. Depending on the structure of your church, offering giving is really akin to almsgiving, where your offering is used to feed the poor, the homeless, and provide assistance to the sick and the elderly. Your offering will also be used to support other missionaries that your church may be involved in (TV broadcast; newsletters; world outreach, evangelism, internet ministry). Where this is not the case, then you as an individual should consider supporting the work of the Lord in other areas where you have a personal interest or passion (eg. a church TV broadcast that you watch daily or an email devotional that you subscribe to). So you see, it really is not enough just to tithe. Your offerings are also very important and should be taken as seriously as the payment of your electricity bill, your mortgage or your rent. The promotion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spreading of His love and blessings is, for every Christian, more important than anything. "On the first day of each week [month], let each one of you put aside something and save it up as he has prospered" (1 Cor.16:2) in ready for the collection.
Those of us in the Western hemisphere spend undold portions of our incomes on a myriad of cleaners, conditioners, cosmetics and other so called neccessities. We have a special product for almost every conceivable chore or "need." Enough already!! Let common sense prevail! Our grandparents didn't need dozens of overlapping products nor do we. Consider the example of the simple dryer sheet (here we discuss BOUNCE - but it could be almost any of them)... Viola Gilbert has given us a partial list and I have added a few of my own at the end. Who knew??? Lots of uses for BOUNCE Laundry Static Stoppers ..... (Most generic or other brands will work also)
My Own Bouncing Tips:
How Much Can You Really Save? Some analysts say that up to 25% of what we spend in the grocery store goes for personal and home care products. Depending on your lifestyle, that number may climb to a whopping 35% - amazing. Of course, using a sheet of Bounce here and there for other applications won't save 25% of your grocery budget, but the idea behind these tips can save a bundle. Think about it. These products are very pricey. Every time you reach for home or personal care items, consider some alternatives. Ask yourself these common sense questions: Do I really need a special product to acheive what this one claims to do? Do I already have a product that can do the same thing? Why do I need this stuff? Did I need it before seeing ads or the product itself? Did my mother use this or something similar? Well, you get the idea. After going through this self queerying routine a time or two, you'll soon find it's automatic and that you're spending lots less on things which usually end up gathering in a disorganized mess in the cabinet under your kitchen sink.
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| Resources Author: Iona Hoeppner |
