I'm a Baptist. Baptist born and Baptist bred, and when I die I'll be Baptist dead! When I was saved at 17 years old, I worked at the local gas station – and my pastor began to teach me about tithing. I was just a high school guy - I think I was being paid about $2 dollars an hour. Pastor Parker told me that if God gave me two dollars, I should honor and worship Him by returning twenty cents. So as a high school student - before I became a pastor and preached sermons on tithing - I became a church member who practiced tithing.  

Tithing is a wonderful blessing and a magnificent act of worship. It is God’s ordained method of financing his church and his work in the world. Tithing shows due respect to the God who created us and who is the source of anything we have. You may say, “But I made that money myself!” Yes - and your heart beats because God wants it to beat. If we have anything, it is because God has allowed it. We are simply the managers; the stewards of our possessions. A person’s checkbook will say as much about his or her spirituality as any other area of life. 

Consider this a challenge – Let God be God, not only of your heart, but of your wallet!

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I wonder how many unbelievers have stumbled because of the way we Christians have handled ourselves during times of trouble. Remember this! The world is watching - they want to see how disciples of Jesus Christ handle the adversities of life.
Are Christians any more noble?
Are they any kinder to one another?
Do they show any more patience, more love?
Does knowing God make any difference in their lives when tragedy strikes? 
I don’t know all the reasons why God allows suffering in the life of his children - but I can tell you that the Bible teaches we are often allowed to experience these things because there is someone watching who needs to see God’s grace lived out; someone who needs to see faith manifested. It is not just a cliché to say that we are the only Bible some will ever read; the only Jesus some will ever see. And they cannot see it when everything is going just fine and dandy. The only way the lost will know if the Christian faith really works, is when our life is as messy as theirs. 
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In May I posted an article entitled "God's house is not a spiritual McDonalds" discussing the consumeristic attitude we often have toward church.  A reader sent me the following youtube clip entitled "Drive-through church" that aptly illustrates this point.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4QFKS4LzS4
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