Withholding--It really galls me to write a check for ten percent of my income after Uncle Sam has already taken what he wants.  First fruits mean I give God His cut first.  Withholding doesn’t allow me to do that.  Uncle Sam gets the first fruits.  On top of that, he takes more than a tithe.  in other words, he takes more than God requires.

I believe we should stop withholding and make people write checks for their taxes each month or quarter.  If we did that, my guess is we would have a tax revolt in this country that would make the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution look like child’s play...which is why we won't ever do that.

Rethinking the Tithe--A few years ago, I went to the website of one of my favorite Christian musicians.  I was shocked to see him railing against those who preach tithing.  It really made me begin to rethink things.

I used to preach tithing.  I did it regularly and consistently.  I believe in the tithe.  When I was a young Christian I learned about the tithe and began to put it into practice.  Everything the Bible says about the tithe is true.  I began to experience the Lord’s blessing immediately and learned early that the Lord honors the tithe.

The one thing I could never reconcile, however, was the legalistic aspect of the tithe.  After all, ten percent is ten percent.  It’s about as legalistic as it gets.  So I ignored that aspect of it.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, the truth cannot be continually ignored…particularly if you’re a preacher and are charged with preaching the truth.

The obvious fact remained that Jesus was never legalistic.  In fact, He seemed to take great pains to avoid legalisms.  I guess that makes a lot of sense when you consider how much the religious rulers of His day held to all the laws of Judaism.  The folks were totally bogged down by all the rules and regulations and lost sight of real faith in God as opposed to faith in making it on their own through pure obedience.

As we all know, the law was given to help us see we just couldn’t live up to the standard of Heaven.  We couldn’t be perfect enough to measure up.  In other words, we could never earn our way in.  The tithe was a part of those rules and regulations…a legalism.

Jesus came preaching the way of faith.  He came proclaiming the Kingdom and the total selling out of ourselves to discipleship.  If we’re sold out to the Kingdom, the dollars are not ours to keep (or give, for that matter).  Hence, I began to understand slowly, that tithing was merely an Old Testament shadow of things to come.  The thing in this case is the giving of it all.

We can’t give ten percent and think we’ve done our part.  Sure, it’s a fine start.  It’s a good place to begin.  But the other ninety percent is His as well.  And what I’ve discovered in my life is that it’s relatively easy to write the tithe check.  It’s a lot harder to be generous with what’s left over.