BECAUSE I SAID SO

A story, probably not true: A Presbyterian (let's pick on them for a while) minister was walking along the beach one day and stumbled upon a lamp. Picking it up and wiping it off caused the lamp to shake and smoke and a genie came out. The genie thanked the minister for freeing him from years of captivity and offered him one wish.

The minister immediately said, "You know, I've always wanted to visit the Holy Land but I'm afraid of flying. And I get seasick just thinking about boats. So could you build a highway across the Atlantic Ocean so I could drive to the Holy Land?"

The genie looked at him in shock and replied, "You've got to be kidding. Do you realize the engineering challenges that would have to be overcome to achieve that feat? Even I have limitations. Can't you think of anything else to wish for?"

The minister thought for a moment and then said, "Okay. I know what I want. I wish that all the members of the congregation I serve become tithers.”

To that the genie replied, "Did you want that to be a two-lane or four-lane highway?"

Thought you might enjoy that this being the time of the year when churches begin planning on next year’s budget. It's probably easier to make fun of tithing that to be serious about it because when the word tithe is mentioned, we tend to flinch. Or we get a little testy. We know what the word means. We also know that tithing is rather basic, rather biblical, in fact. And since our faith is biblically based, we really can't avoid the fact that we can't avoid the word and can't avoid dealing with the reality of that word. And that makes us a might bit testy.

We get testy because we do not like or want anyone telling us what we have to do with our money – have to do if we believe scripture to be the word of God. We don't mind scripture telling us that we aren't allowed to lie or cheat or steal or murder. We don't seem to mind being told what not to do. Telling us what to do, especially with our money, is another matter.

I don't know if that has always been the case. I don't know if years ago people were more willing to tithe than today. Probably not, probably because we have always been material people, judging our self-worth on the amount of possessions we have or do not have, including the amount of money in our bank accounts and not about our generosity to others. It may simply be human nature.

But we are not simply human beings. We are God's children. Everything we have has been given to us by God. Even if we believe we have earned it, we have been able to do so because God has given us the gifts and talents to do so. So, I think God does at least have some say in how God expects us to use the gifts we have been given as best we can and to share them, whether we like it or not. But then, as with our children, we adults never like to hear, "Because I said so."