By Doug Inglish
Some years ago, I was watching a father teach his daughter to swim. She was holding onto the ladder that descended into the water at the shallow end where she was clearly able to stand with her head above the water. He was in the pool behind her, his hands reassuringly on her shoulders.
“Okay,” he said to her calmly, “let go of the ladder now. You can stand up.”
“No!” she shouted. “I’ll go under the water!”
“No, it’s very shallow, and you can stand. Besides, I am right here, and I have hold of you. Nothing can happen to you.”
She was not convinced. “I won’t let go!”
In his soft, soothing voice, daddy patiently reasoned with her. “Remember when I taught you to ride a bike? I didn’t let you get hurt. Now you love to ride your bike. You will love to swim, too. But you can’t learn until you let go of the ladder.”
She remained resolute, but silent. So, daddy gave it one more try.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you, but I’m not letting go.”
That ended the lesson. He told her they would try again another time and took her to the wading pool where she was much happier.
Well, that was just a little girl who was scared of the deep water. I suspect her confidence grew as time went by, and by now she may have taught her own children to swim. It’s unlikely that she stayed stuck in her fears about the shallow end of the pool. If she really did trust her father, she learned to let go.
Of course, you are way ahead of me at this point, but I hope you keep reading while I make the obvious point. If we truly do trust our Father, won’t we learn to let go when He says He will hold us up?
Do you trust God enough to let go of tithes and offerings? You knew I was going to get to that, and you knew I was going to use this verse to support it. Malachi 3:10 tells us, “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” (NIV).
I’m going to say something that might sound really mean right now about that scared little girl holding the ladder in the pool. No matter what she said, she really didn’t trust her daddy. He may have proven himself with bicycles, his firm grip may have been familiar to her from when he ran beside her holding her onto the bike, and he may have told the truth about the depth of the water just like he told the truth about how to ride down the sidewalk, but she would not let go. Her fear was bigger than her trust, no matter what she claimed. I’m not trying to be unkind. In fact, listening to her fear, I could not help but feel a great deal of empathy for her. But there is a logical conclusion based on the evidence. In fact, it is an inevitable conclusion. In this case at least, almost up to her neck in water and her toes not quite touching the bottom of the pool, she did not truly trust her father.
If we say that we trust God, but we don’t let go of what He claims as His, what is the logical conclusion based on this evidence? Has He not proven Himself trustworthy in our previous experiences with Him? Are His reassurances of blessing pouring out on us not believable?
I hope you believe in the mission of your church, but if you do, that’s not the reason to return tithe. I hope you believe that all you own belongs to Him anyway and you are just a steward, but that’s not the reason to tithe. I hope you have peace knowing that God will not accuse you of robbery, but that’s not the reason to tithe. I hope that you are so grateful for all He has provided that you want to show how you feel through your gifts, but that is not the reason to tithe.
Well, okay, those are some good reasons. Pretty good anyway. But let’s get down to the heart of it: God doesn’t need your money any more than that daddy needed his little girl to let go of the ladder. But he was there beside her, encouraging and reassuring her, because he wanted her life to expand into a whole new experience that would provide her with a lifetime of enjoyment. But that was impossible if she didn’t trust him enough to let go.
The real reason to tithe is a matter of trust. Letting go is not about supporting the work, or understanding ownership, or peace, or even gratitude. Letting go is about trusting.
—Doug Inglish is RMC Vice president for administration and stewardship director. Photo by CJ Graglia of Pexels.
