A different kind of tithe.

Over the past few months our Pastor has been preaching on tithing.  One of the passages he used came from Malachi 3.  In this chapter, God calls to our attention to the fact that we are to bring the first fruits (10% first) of what we make back to him before we keep anything for ourselves.  When we choose not to do so, we are literally robbing God.  Can you imagine breaking into God's house in the middle of the night and stealing his valuable possessions?  No one in their right mind would dare do such a thing, yet Christians do it every week when they choose not to honor God with their tithe.

Here is where things get sticky:  what if God changed the tithe from 10% of our possessions and earnings to 10% of our time?  How would we measure up if that were the standard?

As a Christian, it's easy for those who tithe to become proud and arrogant.  We sometimes see ourselves as "the obedient ones" who obey God with our pocket book, all the while spending little or no personal time with God.  I have been guilty of this many times in my walk with Christ.  When it comes to spending quality time with God, many of those who find their pride in tithing fall short when it comes to tithing their time.

No matter what our economic status is, we all have one thing in common:  we all have the exact amount of time.  There are exactly 168 hours of time in a week.  We all get the same amount.  Let's think outside the box for a moment:

Let's say you get 8 hours of sleep a night (I wish....). If that is true then you are left with 112 hours a week to do whatever you want with your time. 

If we tithe on our time in the same manner as we do our money, we would owe approximately 11 hours of our week to God first.

Just for arguments sake, let’s say church time is deducted from those 11 hours.  If you attend church each week (let's be generous and say 4 hours start to finish each Sunday morning) then you are left with 7 hours.

7 hours.  That's an hour a day to spend with God.  Is that something achievable?  Could we give 1 hour a day to God if we were required to tithe our time instead of our money?

A few thoughts:

• Let me be very clear!!!  The example I just used is a perfect example of legalism.  God isn’t a time clock, and our time with Him is not some trivial timecard that we punch in / punch out.  I used this analogy to examine how we spend our time.
• The reason I used this example is to call to our attention that God doesn’t want 7 hours of our time a week, He wants us, and He wants us all of our time. 
• If you look at any parent / child relationship, time is always more important than money.  God cannot be bought.  He owns it all.  Our Father sent His Son Jesus to die for us so that we can enter into a sin-free relationship, one that is intimate and personal.  He is constantly pursuing us.  The question is “Do we respond?”

When I was dating my wife, I lived in Nashville, Tennessee.  She lived in Anderson, South Carolina.  Every single Friday at 5:00pm, I would rush to my car and drive 6 hours (one way) just to see her.  If it were a 24 hour drive, it wouldn’t have mattered!  I had to see her!  I was head-over-heels in love with her, and I still am to this day.  The most important way to show her that I love her is to spend time with her everyday.

God is no different.  He doesn’t want us to simply love Him.  God wants us to be in love with Him.  I love steak, but I wouldn’t drive 6 hours to eat one.  I am in love with my wife, and would do anything to see her.  God wants us to spend time with Him everyday. 

Consider how you might be able to spend time with God each day.  You won’t regret the effort.