A Heart to Give

There is a vast difference between brining the tithe and being a tither. Let me say that another way: Just because you tithe ever Sunday does not mean you're a tither! In their book Wealth, Riches & Money, God's Biblical Principles of Finance, Craig Hill and Earl Pitts put it in a nutshell: "Many people are tithing but never become tithers."

That's true, because the issue is one of intensity of heart. "The difference has to do with the attitude and active involvement," write Hill and Pitts. For example, you might love to play football at the park no and then, but that doesn't make you and Emmit Smith or a David Beckham. You might love to play tennis on occasion, but that doesn't make you a Steffi Graf or a Venus or Vanessa Williams. A professional athlete has devotion, dedication and passion about his or her sport, which presses him or her to be great. A true tither will have the drive, desire and commitment of a pro.

God doesn't want our money. He wants our hearts. Tithers bring a heart after God. The woman in Mark 12 and Luke 21, who gave two mites, was blessed by Jesus because she had a heart that told her that it all belonged to the Lord. Two mites many not have been much by the standards of other people, but it was a massive amount to her-and she earmarked 100 percent for God! It was all she had to live on, and she was blessed by Jesus because he heart prompted her to give her all (See Luke 21:1-4).