| We are taught in the church to be faithful in giving our tithes and offerings. Many musicians put their own twist on this. Since we possess this great talent, we think that giving our time and skill to the church equates to giving money. After all, we could earn a good bit of money by playing or singing somewhere else, taking into consideration the numerous hours we spend at church. So, we convince ourselves to forego giving our money and give only our time instead. | God is asking us to be generous with our giving, sometimes beyond our comfort zone. Ask God to challenge you with this. |
This is where we will miss a great blessing. As Levites, we should be faithful in our giving with our money as well. We can’t out-give God! The time that we put in volunteering at church doesn't take the place of giving our other resources.
Years ago I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a vintage Hammond B-3 organ (worth ~$8,000) at a bargain price of just $250! After being overwhelmed with the joy of my purchase for a couple of days, I heard God speak to me as clearly as only He can: I needed to give the organ to our church. As a matter of fact, they had been looking for one. After struggling a few days with the decision, I gave in and donated the organ to the church. (Being a new immigrant to the US at the time, I didn't even know to ask the church for a tax receipt. But, but I'm sure God's accounting took that into consideration, as you will soon see.)
It wasn't easy giving away this dream-come-true. However, in doing what God has asked of me, I felt great relief and continued to attend the church. At this point I wasn't even playing there. They had full-time staff musicians to do that. To make a long story short, I eventually was hired by the church and had the privilege of playing that organ for about 15 years and I was paid a full-time salary to do it.
Years ago I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a vintage Hammond B-3 organ (worth ~$8,000) at a bargain price of just $250! After being overwhelmed with the joy of my purchase for a couple of days, I heard God speak to me as clearly as only He can: I needed to give the organ to our church. As a matter of fact, they had been looking for one. After struggling a few days with the decision, I gave in and donated the organ to the church. (Being a new immigrant to the US at the time, I didn't even know to ask the church for a tax receipt. But, but I'm sure God's accounting took that into consideration, as you will soon see.)
It wasn't easy giving away this dream-come-true. However, in doing what God has asked of me, I felt great relief and continued to attend the church. At this point I wasn't even playing there. They had full-time staff musicians to do that. To make a long story short, I eventually was hired by the church and had the privilege of playing that organ for about 15 years and I was paid a full-time salary to do it.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." | God is asking us to be generous with our giving, sometimes beyond our comfort zone. Ask God to challenge you with this. At times it might mean to sacrifice what you want by donating an instrument to someone else who is just starting and showing some talent. Of course, this means that you could have bought a nice guitar pedal for yourself instead. However, being faithful when God calls us to sacrificial giving yields blessings we cannot foresee. |
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