Tithing our time

[Notthemama1984]

I had a discussion with a friend recently and they mentioned that they felt that not only should we tithe with our money, but we should also tithe our time. Thus we should spend 2.4 hrs a day doing something with/for God.

What are your thoughts?

 

[N. Eshelman]

God asks for one day in seven. It's the Christian Sabbath.

 

[Wannabee]

I could probably agree with your friend. I perceive the principle of tithing to be life permeating. Nothing we own is our own and therefore should be bent toward service to God. We tend to think of things as "ours." But they are stewardships. Is our house an instrument we use for God's glory? Our car? Our books (not just reading, but sharing even when we know we might not see them again)? It's very easy to relegate the idea of giving to merely currency. But I see this as a sort of cop-out. We become too busy and fail to spend concerted time with or in the service of God, but justify it with thoughts of how much we give or the fact that we strive to do all things to the glory of God. But is it really that much to pray for one hour a day? Is it that much to read our Bibles for 30 min a day? Is it that much to do devotions for 1 hr a day with our families. Voilà, 2.5 hrs focused on Christ, not including lunch time witnessing to coworkers, having folks over for supper, Bible studies or whatever other opportunities we receive. I wouldn't put this forth in a legalistic sense, but as a good life principle to follow.

 

[Mike Southerland]

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ” (1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV)

...and...

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ” (Galatians 5:16, ESV)

...and...

“for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ” (1 Corinthians 6:20, ESV)

My point is that we should live our lives in such a way that all we do is "with/for" God. If we are doing anything that can not be done for His glory, we should repent and stop doing it.

I also agree with Pastor Eshelman, that in terms of time for explicitly worshipping God, God has ordained the Christian Sabbath for the "public and private exercises" of worship.

 

[jfschultz]

Let’s see 24 hours in a day X 7 days in a week = 168 hours in a week.
24 hours in a day - 7 or 8 hours of sleep = 16 to 17 waking hours.
Looks like a tithe to me.

This thought came up while reading Chantry's "Call the Sabbath a Delight." Unfortunately it seems that most people complain about 1 hour a week.

 

[Scott1]

Both the Lord's Day and tithing represent fundamental principles of the Christian life-
"our" time and money is not our own.

God owns it all, and commands us to set aside certain parts in recognition of that fact as a beginning of understanding His total ownership.

In the process, obedience tends to check our disobedience of the other commandments, e.g. Commandment ten, but really it goes through most all of them.

Some will rationalize that this is all "spiritualized" away- but God has set markers out as part of a regulated Christian life in what we call tithing and sabbath keeping.

The amazing thing is that as we obey, it seems we often have more, and experience blessing, and perhaps are spared from some troubles in this life!

 

[Pergamum]

I think it is reasonable that the Church, as a corporate body, tithes itself by means of setting apart men for the ministry and supporting those men.

---------- Post added at 03:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 AM ----------

p.s. if we could give, as the Body of Christ, a tithe of workers/servants raised up to teach or to go to other dark places to witness to others while the rest supported them, what a difference that would make.

 

[Notthemama1984]

Amen perg!

 

[Contra_Mundum]

As jfschultz has said, the waking Lord's Day hours "amounts" to a tithe of the week.

Although, I doubt whether God wants us to "calculate" the tithe of our time to him. He simply directed us to reserve his day, which should be enough to guide us. If we pull out the calculator, and then start "factoring in" all our personal and family devotional time--either to add it on and boast of our "above-and-beyond-spirituality," or sub it down to figure out how much of a Sunday is still "mine" hours-wise--well, there's legalism for you.

 

[Rich Koster]

I believe we should dump the legalism of tithe and replace it with stewardship. Since we are God's possession and we are managing what is His, I believe that good overall stewardship is what is important.