For: God

When I first became a Deacon and started counting the offering after worship, I noticed one member always wrote in the "memo/for" line of the check "God". Not tithe, not offering, not missions, just God. At the time, I got a chuckle out of it. Then, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that is absolutely correct, that money is for God! Much of the time, we write that check and think it goes into a hole at the church, or consider it a fee for church membership. But no, it's not, it is simply returning to God a small portion of what he has given to us.
The fact is, all we have we has been given by God. Our salvation, families, time, talents, jobs, money, health, everything.
As Stewardship chairman, I get to see much of what it takes to do ministry. There are costs involved with most every aspect of ministry. More than just the obvious salaries, missions and utilities, there is curriculum for our children, mercy needs for our congregation, even pizza for starving workers at the work day. I used to get depressed writing my tithe check, considering that even though it was a true tithe, my little bit wouldn't even cover the water bill for that month. But that's not what we are paying for, we are not paying for anything. We are giving back to God in gratefulness for what He has blessed us with to help further the Kingdom. It is then used by the Session, Diaconate and staff to pay for bills that are incurred while furthering the Kingdom.
In our "2020 Vision" meeting last night, we learned about a more direct way we will have to further the Kingdom. Church planting is in our near future and a portion of our tithe dollars will be spent spreading the Gospel in other communities. Our time, talents and tithes will be needed in this effort.
It is an exciting time for our church family to grow and mature in our faith. Please prayerfully consider your position on tithing, consider what God has blessed you with, consider what you now spend your money on, and what good you can do for the Kingdom with your money. We all have debts, we all have things we would like to have, but how many of those things truly matter in the big picture compared to the eternal Glory of God?
So, I challenge myself and you, next time you get paid and are writing that tithe check, look at the "For" line at the bottom of the check and remember who it is truly for.