A lady from Los Angeles in a U-Haul happened into our store yesterday. Actually, she had rented the U-Haul in Jackson, TN and was going to Somerville, GA. She'd missed a turn and wound up in Moulton, AL (a fate that befalls more than her, I assure you
). A regular customer of ours gave her directions of how to get her back to where she got off-track. I waited for him to finish, and then told her how to get to where she could get back on track quicker and without back-tracking. She was kind of slow of understanding, directionally-impaired if you will. But, I wrote down a list of landmarks -- all on the right hand side of the road -- that she would encounter to let her know she was going as directed.
I don't know how she made out. But, when she left, she was smiling.
Fact is, either set of directions would've gotten her there. Both of her helpers had given her accurate directions to get her back on her intended path. We had a difference of opinion on which way was better, taking into account her (ahem) inability to follow directions. She followed my advice, though, given the way she was heading when she left. I only hope the poor gal got there without too much more deviation since she was being really mileage-conscious with her U-Haul.
Whether you view tithing as a NT requirement, as an OT carryover that is somehow endorsed as a rule of practice for Christians in the church, or as a benchmark for giving cheerfully while taking the OT revelation of God into account in light of the NT teaching on giving all, or some other seriously studied, prayerfully considered and heartfelt-desire-to-be-obedient way of breaking this issue down into how-to-live reality, there is little doubt that the believer will have no choice but to confront his or her lordship over one's own resources and the dilemma of whether and how to submit it to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The response to that dilemma is, in my own opinion, a telling barometer of that person's view of Jesus, who had "equality with God" but considered it nothing to be grasped, and who, being found in the form of a man, became obedient and submitted himself to death on the cross. In other words, His model is that everything is unto God. There are many, many forms and functions of the body of Christ in the world. Churches now take many and varied structures that we don't even consider here in our corner of it. Home churches, clandestine meetings shepherded by every single participant, etc. It is impossible, in my opinion, to be dogmatic about the how-to on giving, and equally unwise to make blanket judgments about the how-much. I wonder whether any of us could pass muster under Paul's example of giving all, and of following Him as he followed Christ.
Human government bears the same relation to hell as the church bears to heaven. (David Lipscomb, On Civil Government, 72).
Really.
![[amer-ribbon90.gif]](/images/amer-ribbon90.gif "Remember our veterans and troops currently serving today.")
