Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
When we have brought to God His tithes and His offerings, we have not given God anything. The tithes and offerings are already His, and in bringing them to God, we are merely doing our duty, for it is only to be expected that we should be a faithful handler of God's possessions.
In the Old Testament, God gave permission to His people to bring gifts to Him that were beyond the requirement of tithes and offerings. If someone among His people did want to bring a gift to God beyond what was required, God allowed it, in the main. Even so, however, God set the standard; He never accepted just anything that anyone decided to bring Him. Concerning such offerings, and almsgiving, Jesus said simply, "Give." And then he promised that God would especially reward such abundant giving: He said: "Give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal shall it be measured to you again" (Lk. 5:38).
We will never out-give God. I have known saints who were anointed with the gift of giving, mentioned in Romans 12. Though poor, they found ways of giving that richer people could not find. It was their gift from God, and how sweet it was to share this life with such souls! They gave unceasingly and in varied ways, without thought or care, but even they, the most giving of all people, never out-gave God (not that they tried.)
Concerning the opportunity to give beyond what was required, Paul told the saints in Corinth, "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity [i.e., not because someone has talked you into it], for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2Cor. 9:6).
It is worthless to give with half a heart or with a double mind. In time, such a person will most likely regret that he gave, and there is no reward from God for that. It is also worthless to give because one is afraid not to, or out of a sense of guilt if one does not give. There are many ways by which religious men pressure people to give when they really do not want to give. One example of this is the Christian tradition it of publicly "taking up a collection"-all the while reminding the people of how much Jesus has done for them. Men who do that know they are pressuring people to give what they may not really want to give. And they know that they are embarrassing some people for their past failure to give. When people are pressured by such tactics, they may afterward regret yielding to the pressure, and their hearts will then be further hardened against generosity.
Blessings follow obedience to God's will concerning tithes and offerings, and of giving beyond that. But if it is not in a person's heart to do those things, then it is evil to pressure him to do so. Gifts are not acceptable to God if the person bringing the money doesn't really want to give it. It is a matter of the heart! Only the heart! Always the heart! Where is your heart concerning God and money? That is the only real issue.
The Christian tradition of "taking up a collection" is nothing but a tool of oppression, and it is of the devil. That godless tradition is not designed simply to provide God's saints with an opportunity to bring their tithes and offerings; a simple basket by the door would suffice for that. "Taking up a collection" sprang from the covetous heart of some unknown man. That public display pressures people to give when they otherwise might not give.
Besides that, the ritual of "taking up a collection" would be completely unnecessary if a minister would simply feed God's people the truth. The children of God cheerfully bring God's tithes and offerings to Him, without being asked, when they are cared for. I have never in all my years of serving God had any need to "take up a collection", not because I am so wonderful but because God's children are wonderful. Happy children of God are the most generous creatures in all of God's creation. By their example, God's children teach the very angels about giving, once the truth sets them free from Christianity to become who they really are in Christ.
On occasion, I have had to refuse a person's tithes and offerings. Sometimes, it has been because the person bringing the money was living an ungodly life and was not worthy to mingle his or her money with that of upright saints of God. Jesus would not allow me to take what those people offered until they repented and made things right with him. At other times, I could not take the money because it was being offered by precious saints who were too zealous for their own good. They were offering more than what was good for them to give. They were overly excited in the Lord and hadn't yet learned how to express such feelings of thanksgiving and joy with temperance and discretion.
The Lord knows us, that we are made of dust and that we stagger sometimes in our walk of faith. But He continually encourages us to trust Him. Often, it appears, He has more confidence in us than we have in Him. One of the challenges that He believes we can meet is the one He issued to His children through Malachi: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove Me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." God invites us to put Him to the test!
"Do not fear, little flock", to obey Jesus' commandment to "give". The same Father who provided what you have to give will also cause you to reap what you have sown in sincerity, from the heart. Believe God. He has promised that He will care for us forever if we will trust Him now.