My wife and I recently started working out at a boot camp at our local gym. It’s been almost four months and we’ve really seen a massive change. Just in the first month alone I lost 17.5 inches. Pretty incredible results for a month. (Check out Stafford Boot Camp if you’re in Longview. Tell em I sent you). Interestingly enough, there are some side effects to getting in shape. Don’t worry. They’re good.
I always thought I’d have less energy if I worked out in the morning. I found I had way more. I didn’t know if my body could keep up with the routine. I found it could do more than i thought it could. Even at first, I thought I would see drastic weight loss. After the first month, I’d lost 4 lbs. But that is because I lost like 16lbs of fat and gained 12 lbs of muscle. The expectations I had going in seemed counter-intuitive.
It’s a lot like tithing.
Tithing is counter-intuitive. It doesn’t stand to reason that 90% goes further than 100%. It doesn’t seem logical that the best thing I could do for my family was to give the resources away rather than using them to provide for my family. But like my morning workouts giving me energy when it seems they should make me tired, our dollar goes farther than ever. There’s a reason for that.
Morning workouts give you energy because they jump start your metabolism to burn calories all day long. Your body can hang with the program because your body was made to move. Weight loss when you’re working out isn’t as obvious at first because muscle weighs more than fat. These things work because they were designed to work.
And tithing works because it was designed to as well.
Malachi 3 tells us that it isn’t only a command, but it is a protection. Honor God with obedience in your finances, and he’ll rebuke the devourer for your sake. 90% goes further than 100% because you’re no longer losing 30% to the devourer. See, it adds up after all. And what you’ll find is that this tithe that you thought you couldn’t afford is actually refreshing. That 90% that you thought couldn’t keep up with the program actually is outperforming. And the health of your finances, though it doesn’t seem to change a ton at first, is so much better because it is cutting fat and gaining muscle.
Tithing wasn’t an idea to rob you of your hard-earned money. It is a principle that was designed to bring you to a place where your dependence is on the Source, not the supply.
There’s one other side effect of boot camp that wasn’t expected. And it has to do with chicken fried steak.
When you discover how many calories you burn when you do a situp, and then calculate how many situps you’d have to do to cover the meal you’re about to eat, you stop ordering the chicken fried steak. Is it tasty, sure, right now. But when you consider the work it will take to work it off, it isn’t so appealing. And after a few months without it, you find it is downright disgusting to the taste, dripping with all that grease. Ugh! (Look under the chicken fried steak before you eat it and you’ll find that tub of Crisco you thought you lost).
The point is that I’ve had a change of heart. I have changed the way I eat because adding a new habit of working out just isn’t enough. My fitness had to become a matter of my heart. I couldn’t workout in the morning and eat like a slob the rest of the day, otherwise I was negating the whole process. I had to see the value of the new habit, but also the value of making sure I wasn’t undoing what I had done.
What I mean is it isn’t enough to just start giving 10%. There needs to be a change in your heart where giving your tithe isn’t about a financial transaction. It needs to begin with the real heart of the matter: obedience. That’s really what it is all about. God doesn’t need our money. He wants our hearts. Even our financial ones.
I’ve had a change of heart, financially speaking. We still have those skinny weeks sometimes, but it is because we are trying to honor God with 100%. We give out tithe and offering, but we want God’s wisdom for the remaining portion too. But to be honest, I needed someone to help me be accountable. I needed someone to make sure I was tithing. Maybe that’s you too, so here are a few ways to get the ball rolling.
1. Find someone, a pastor, a trusted friend, someone outside of your family to make sure you tithe each time you are paid. Someone who loves you enough to make sure you tithe like you are supposed to.2. Many churches, like ours, NCC, offer online giving, and you can set it up to automatically withdraw your tithe amount each day you get paid. If you are anything like me, if it is scheduled, I’m much less likely to not go through with it.
3. Last, and really more importantly, ask God to change your heart when it comes to your finances. It is true you can’t afford not to tithe, but your family deserves better than a curse for robbing God. If you really want to be a good provider, you have to be a faithful tither. It is built into our spiritual DNA.
I started working out before my eating habits changed. I had to start tithing before I saw what God was doing in my life, which changed my heart from resistance to the tithe, to obedience to God. Put God to the test by honoring him with your tithe. I promise you the benefits will blow you away.
Malachi3:10b-11
Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Be blessed!
JJC
Great blog!!