September 17, 2024

John 6.8-13 (NIV)

Andrew spoke up, “Here is a boy with five . . . loaves and two . . . fish; but how far will they go among so many?” . . . Jesus . . . took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. . . . When they had all had enough to eat . . . they . . . filled twelve baskets with pieces . . . left over by those who had eaten.”

Ironically, many people can’t afford to give precisely because they’re not giving.*

People make various excuses for not giving to the church. One of those is that they don’t have much so it wouldn’t make any difference to the church if they did give. I beg to differ. If Jesus can turn five pieces of bread and two little fish (sardines?) into twelve basketfuls of leftovers, certainly he can take a few dollars and accomplish his purposes with them. Would the crowd have been fed that day if the little boy had kept his lunch to himself? 

When I lost my job, my husband and I continued to give more than 10% of his income to the church but I was uncomfortable with having nothing of my own to give for the first time in my adult life. When I started a part-time job in the church office, I decided that, even though my husband’s giving more than covered the tithe from my pay-check, I would donate 10% of my meager salary to missions. As it turned out, one of my duties in the church office was to help count the church offering and prepare it for deposit at the bank. So, the day after my first tithe, I saw for myself that someone else had made a very generous contribution to missions that week. Would that “basketful of bread” have come in if I had chosen not to contribute my “five loaves and two fishes?” 

 

What was Andrew thinking when he presented the little boy and his lunch basket? Did he feel stupid? Was he trying to make a point? Or did he know that Jesus could take our meager offerings and turn them into abundance? 

Christians who tithe demonstrate their trust in God to provide for their needs . . ., believing that 90 percent of their income with God’s blessing is greater than 100 percent without it.*