The Number-One Myth About Money

You know, when you're new in the faith, you've got to study. You've got to learn. And so I spent a bazillion early sunrises, and I'm still pretty disciplined, but a lot of you are a lot holier than me. I'll just tell you. But one morning many years ago about 5:30, I was sitting there reading the Bible.

My son, who's a grown man now, was 5 years old at the time. The sun is rising, and my 5-year-old starts coming down the stairs. He got up too early. Now, you know the 5-year-olds when they get up early. Their hair points in every direction, right? He's 5 years old. He's got no front teeth, right? He's got his Spiderman footie pajamas on, and the right knee's out because he's been sliding into home base, right? And he comes down the stairs dragging his blankie.

It was 5:30 in the morning. He's interrupting my Bible study. I said, "Son, you need to go back to bed. You're gonna be tired later. You're gonna be grouchy. Then you're gonna get a beating. You need to go back to bed."

"All right, daddy, I'll go back to bed, but can I sit with you just for a few minutes?"

"Why, sure."

And this little Spiderman guy climbs up in my lap, and before I knew it, tears are running down my face. And he said, "Daddy, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

I said, "No, baby. You didn't do anything wrong."

I said, "I was just reading here, and I read it a whole bunch of times . . ."

See, I've got two daughters, and I love my daughters, and I got one boy. And he's sitting in my lap.

"And, son, I was just reading here that God gave His only Son."

I can't get my head around that to this day. He gave his only Son. Wow. And, you know, the Bible says in Genesis that you and I are made in God's image. And Isaiah says that God sat down and knitted you in your mother's womb. Pull that word "knit" out in the Hebrew. It looks more like the word "crochet."

When God was sitting there with a DNA double helix, and He was making you, and He stepped back, and He said, "That is good," in that DNA is His image when He made you, and He gave His only Son. God has us to give because He wants to make us to look more like His Son. He wants us to be Christlike. He wants to redeem us.

He has me give because His requirement for me to give is a gift to me that causes me to be transformed into a giver, which makes me more Christlike, more of a Christ follower, a Christian. Hard to be a Christ follower when you never give. Very hard. You can't say you're Christlike.

He laid down his life voluntarily. They didn't take it. He gave it. God created us in His own image. God has us tithe weekly because it reminds us who owns it. It reminds me that I'm in the banker's role, not the owner's role. When I give my tithe, it reminds me who's in charge and that I'm a manager. I'm not an owner. It's my financial AA meeting.

* Giving changes us for the better

I go once a week, and I give my tithe. It reminds me, because I need to be reminded. I can take ownership. This is my weak spot. That's why God makes me teach it every day. Y'all think it's because I'm in charge of the subject. No, it's because I'm like the guy that-I'm a wounded healer. I'm the guy that walks with a limp.