Tithing our Time

Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; Shout for joy to the LORD , all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD - shout for joy before the LORD , the King. Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD Psalm 98:1, 4-5, 7-9

In the Book of Numbers, we are told to be patient, to wait for God’s guidance and for His leading in our lives. But we are also taught to act on that leading once He makes His will known to us. We are taught to be committed to God.

Every Sunday morning we gather together and worship God. We praise Him for the marvelous things He has done, we burst into jubilant song before Him, and we shout for joy to our Lord, to our King.

God doesn’t want or need our money. What He really wants is our hearts. He wants us to be committed to following His leading in our lives. I heard Tim Woodroof say something like this in a sermon once, “There are 168 hours in each week. Most of us spend an average of about 56 of those hours sleeping. That leaves us with 112 hours of time spent awake most weeks. Do we tithe that time back to the Lord? Do we give God 11 hours each week?”

We spend a few hours at church each Sunday, another couple of hours on Wednesday night, but what about the other 6 or 7 hours that we owe to the Lord each week? Do you contribute your time back to God, either through prayer, in study, or in service to Him in some way?

I’m going to challenge us all to do just that. Try giving God at least His 11 hours this week and see what happens. I think we will discover that when we turn ours lives over to God, when we commit ourselves completely to His will for us, we will recognize that everything we have, everything we earn and everything we are has been given to us as a generous gift from God. What we give back to Him each week, both in time and money is an expression of our gratefulness to Him for all these wonderful blessings.

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16