THE BEST ILLUSTRATION OF TITHE YOU'LL EVER READ

“When you go to church today and feel the AC blowing through your wig into your skull, know that you are eating out of your tithe.…when the bass guitarists, the keyboardists and other guys on the drums are delivering some good music during praise worship and you’re dancing everywhere and removing your coat, uncle they pay those guys working for God, know that you are eating out of your tithe.

Most Sundays you don’t go to church because you depend on PHCN to iron your clothes, it is the same thing in the house of God, we don’t depend on PHCN to power the church, we pay for fuel and diesel, so when you go to church today and enjoy uninterrupted worship, know that you are eating out of your tithe.… If you go to church to charge your phones and you grudge about tithe, well, your case is different.

When we invite Pastor Nathaniel Bassey to lead you in worship to our God, it is not his trumpet he will eat when he goes back home after ushering the Holy Ghost into your life with his ministration, it is not halleluiah challenge his landlord will eat, we give them minister’s gifts to support the work God is also doing through them, it is the meat that you have stored in God’s house that we use to feed them. So when Travis Greene comes from the UK to raise the roof in praise and worship, dance very well because it is your tithe.

"Who deserves to live in Lekki? The pastor that feeds you daily with God’s word or Timaya that adds nothing to your Christian faith? Who deserves to drive the best cars? Your pastor glorifying God or Iyanya winding waist with naked women glorifying mammon? One witch somewhere will just be vexing for nothing that we are giving to advance the kingdom, you grudge when asked to donate to a church project, you grudge when asked to pay tithe, you think it’s your squeezed 50 naira that makes you comfortable in worship at Church? People campaigning for people not to pay tithe to God when they cheerfully pay millions for a table for 5 at AY shows. People!!!” 

No let’s talk about the right perception to tithing.

I have tried so hard to avoid this tithing or no tithing debate, but it will be so ungrateful of me to keep quiet and watch some folks misunderstand a principle that gives me great peace.

I'm not going to quote a single scripture to defend this, if the Bible is too deep for us to understand, then maybe it is time we try common sense.

We don't tithe because we want to receive from God, we don't tithe to buy God's blessings, it is not a give and take something, and it is not a trade by barter principle. God's blessings and favors come upon us in a million amazing ways without giving a penny, most times the blessings we hardly take notice, He just loves us, unconditionally, whether we are giving to Him or not. He gave us Jesus without our consent, He sent His son at a time when we least deserved it, that's how much He has been giving to us without asking anything back in return.

I don't care about being under law, under grace or under mercy, I just love the Lord with all my heart, and with all that is within me. I give back a tenth of all that He gives to me not in an attempt to provoke Him to do more, but to maintain my local assembly. I tithe to ensure that there is meat in His house. I understand that it is His duty to maintain the spiritual needs of His house, but since He has given me the capacity to contribute to the physical and material needs of His house, I WILL.

It will be an insult to go to church one day and learn that Pastor couldn't come because he went to work so he can pay his children's school fees. I tithe to make sure that my Pastor's sermons are not influenced by hunger and lack.

It gives me great joy to know that my tithe contributes to the salaries of the staffs working night and day in God's house.

I tithe to ensure that God's properties are protected while I sleep very well in my house. I don't want to come back next service day to learn that thieves have stolen the church microphones and generator because we cannot hire guards to keep watch.

The rich and the poor enrich footballers that add no single moral values to our lives to ride expensive cars and jets. Yet the society celebrates them. Hence, if driving a good car helps my Pastor spread the gospel across many towns and cities, I will tithe for him to buy a private jet so that he can fly everywhere and spread the gospel faster.

I tithe to maintain His house.

I tithe to finance the gospel.

I refuse to allow the under law and under grace debate make God look complicated to me. The Levite priests did not have electricity problem in their time, bad roads and traffic was not a problem to spreading the gospel, yet God's people were still giving to maintain God's house. It's still the same today, different scenarios.

If living in Lekki will make my pastor beat traffic and come early for service I will tithe for him to buy a house there. If living in Banana Island will make him accessible to God's people I will tithe to make it happen.

I tithe so that the generator will never lack diesel. I tithe because it will be uncomfortable for me to worship God in the hot heat with someone who has body odor, I tithe for God's house to have a good AC.

I tithe to enjoy the same quality of music people enjoy in the clubs and bars. I tithe for the church to have a good sound system. I tithe for the church to afford professional instrumentalists and sound engineers to make my worship experience more exciting.

I tithe for the church to continue giving bobo and popcorn to our kids in the children's Church.

If my tithe is helping the outreach department take care of the poor and needy I will keep tithing.

If my tithe contributes to the logistics that will fly Bishop TD Jakes down here to give me a different dimension of the Word, I will keep tithing.

If my tithe makes the gospel concerts and word conferences FREE, I will keep tithing.

I tithe not as a barter to receive, it is not a means of exchange, how much can I really pay?

I tithe to keep His house running so that I can always run there to refill and recharge.

So whether it is Old Testament, New Testament or Future Testament, it is our duty to maintain our local assembly, and this is why I tithe cheerfully.

The best news is that you cannot take care of God's house and live in lack. It all comes back to us in different ways, pressed down, shaken together, and rolling over.

It's just common sense guys.

DAVID KING