When you go to the movies, the price you pay for admission doesn’t change based on your income.
If you don’t pay the going rate, you don’t get in.
The same principle applies to most everything in life.
We live basically in a flat-rate world.
I’m glad that the level of financial giving that God sets for believer faithfulness is not a flat rate.
There is no way that I could match the actual dollar amount of tithing by a millionaire Christian whose church offerings by themselves might exceed my gross annual income.
And yet, in God’s sight, my tithe offering is just as sweet to God and as obedient to His command, even though the actual amount of the gift might be one-tenth as much.
That’s the beauty of God’s call for proportional giving.
Equal sacrifice doesn’t typically mean equal amounts.
I should clarify that our access to heaven actually does involve a flat-rate payment, but not by us.
Instead, the price was something we couldn’t pay and still have any hope for eternal life.
I’m talking about Christ’s suffering on the cross as payment for your sins and mine.
Every soul has the same value before God and required the same sacrifice if there was to be a provision made for the soul’s salvation.
Yet, every saved soul is to demonstrate that commitment to God based on the measure of financial blessing that exists in the person’s life.
I pray that you’re tithing, meaning that you’re giving 10 percent of your gross income — before taxes — to the work of God’s Kingdom.
And I pray that you thank God for His grace in calling you to give according to your income, not according to somebody else’s.
Why this topic today? The daily Bible reading describes in Leviticus 5 of how God called the Hebrews to make atonement sacrifices based on their level of income, regardless of the sin type.
God’s grace via proportional giving even extended to the poorest of the poor who couldn’t afford to buy two doves to offer as sin sacrifices. If such a person brought an ephah (i.e., a quart) of quality flour to the priest, it would be spread on the top of other food offerings on the altar and burned as an acceptable sacrifice.
It is a wonderful testimony of God’s grace that the poor person could have just as much inner peace because of obeying God as did the wealthy person who could have afforded to give 10 unblemished, female lambs to the priest for sacrifice.
I’m so glad that I serve a gracious God who asks for proportional sacrifice to show an equal percentage of love for the God who sent His Son to pay the flat rate, ultimate sacrifice on the cross for my sins.
Please give your tithe offering with a profound sense of gratitude. It’s the least you can do for the God who gave the most for you.
As always, I love you
Martin
