You cannot outgive God!

One of the lasting memories that I carry from my adolescence, concerns my late father. We were a "churchgoing" family and, in the congregation to which we belonged, most people, including the Ross family, gave their offering in special envelopes. These, my mum and dad filled each Saturday evening, one for each of them, and one each for me and those of my siblings who were old enough to attend the worship service.

I recall, clearly, one specific Saturday. I don't know if there had been some additional, and perhaps unexpected, household expense during that week, or coming up in the week ahead, but my mum told my dad that they would have difficulty putting the usual amounts in the church offering envelopes. However, my dad had one personal pleasure - he smoked a pipe. Suddenly he said that if he did without tobacco in the coming week, the envelopes could be filled as usual. 

My mum tried to dissuade him, but he was adamant. "After all", he said, "the Lord is no man's debtor". I had never heard that particular saying before - but it has stuck in my mind for, now, some 65 years. I should add that, on the Monday evening, there was a knock at the front door. My dad went to answer it, and I could hear him speaking with someone. When he returned to the living room, he had a smile that stretched from one ear to the other! "Who was that?", my mum asked. My dad named the person. "What did he want?" my mum asked. "Nothing!" replied my dad, enigmatically! Then he put his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out a £5 note. "Which bank", he asked, "would take a deposit of  6 shillings on Sunday, and give me £5 on Monday?" It turned out that that my dad had done some work for this other person, and had never been paid. He had accepted the loss but, that evening, he had been paid - with interest!

Many years later, as a student at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, the student body were addressed by Stanley Collins, the then Superintendent of the Tent Hall. His message was on the subject of tithing. I had heard the word, but it wasn't something to which I had given a great deal of thought. However, he did say something that brought me up short! He made the point that many of us had given up much to study at the BTI, and that we probably appreciated every penny we received. Then he also told us that if we received a gift of £1 (remember that this was in the latter half of the 1960s) 2 shillings belonged to the Lord - our tithe! 

I am not able to claim very much for myself, but I can say that I have tithed ever since - and eventually added a "love offering". 

One more story! I was now married and the father of two healthy children. But I was also unemployed! I had occasional teaching jobs, but nothing permanent. Three or four times each week, I would sit down to check the family finances. I didn't have a computer with a spreadsheet programme, but pen and paper did the job. I wrote down our income; I wrote down our necessary expenditure; I arrived at a balance - usually "in the red"! However, we maintained our tithes and love gifts. Then, one evening, the Lord spoke to me. "Are you going to get through this month?", He asked. "No, Lord. It looks as if we will be short." "Were you going to get through last month?" came the question. "No , Lord, it didn't look possible." "Did you get through?" A moment of thoughtful silence, then "Yes, Lord. Actually we did!". "And the month before?" "Okay. That was the same." "Has there been a month since you became unemployed , in which you were definitely going to make it?" "No, Lord." Has there been a month when you didn't make it?" Another thoughtful silence. "No, Lord. There hasn't!" "Are you getting the message?" "Yes, Lord. Your mathematics work on a different plane than mine!" Since that evening, I only check the figures when there is a change in our income. 

I can testify, from personal experience, that I - and my family - have never lost out by giving to the Lord. I think it was the late Billy Graham who said: "The Lord can do more with the 90%, than I can with 100%! As my dad said, "The Lord is no man's debtor." 

Can we be counted upon?!

In a moment of madness, I accepted a challenge, on Facebook, from a very dear young friend. I only wish that the response to that challenge (as, having failed, I had to pass it on!) could be replicated with my blog!!

Anyway, as we move through the amazing library of books that is named The Bible, we come to the book of Numbers. Maths just happened to be my best subject during my secondary education - but one doesn't need to be a mathematician to learn from this book. 

Here is the next video.

I wonder if anyone is noticing the lessons here?! How like those Israelites of old is the church - the body of the Christ - today! Indeed, as one who is intensely interested in, and supportive of, the modern descendants of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, I see the modern State of Israel behaving in the same way through its secular government that looks to alliances with other nations, rather than to the God of their ancestors! more to come in the next post.

Numbers!

When I attended my Grammar School (a long time ago!) my best subject was mathematics and, while I did not take the subject to University level, I have always had an interest in numbers!  So, when I had been blogging for a few months, I learned how to add a counter to my blog and, the number of 'hits' is now very close to 20,000.  Okay, compared to some, that is not a great number over the time I've had the blog.  However, as my younger daughter points out, I'm not a famous person (although some might suggest that I am 'infamous'!).

Numbers are important in many spheres.  Politicians are always interested in numbers.  One only needs to think of the plethora of polls that are issued in the lead-up to an election, and the way in which politicians who haven't been seen since the previous election are suddenly being as nice as possible to everyone in order to boost the number of people who will vote for them.

It is to be hoped that numbers will play an important part in the deliberations of the governments in both Holyrood and Westminster, when they come to decide what they are going to do about the vexed question of the redefinition of 'marriage' - which is, of course, much more than a word in the dictionary!  The results of the consultations; as well as the numbers who have petitioned the respective parliaments; ought to leave no doubt as to the direction in which the politicians decide.  The reports that have leaked out would suggest that the Scottish consultation was 2:1 in favour of retaining the traditional meaning, and concept, of marriage.  There were some 77,000 responses - totally overshadowing the response to the Scottish government's consultation on an independence referendum!

In Westminster, the petition in support of traditional, Biblical, marriage has reached some 600,000 signatures - and the full million is not out of the question!

Numbers.  Let those of us who are concerned for the status of marriage keep praying that the politicians, even if just out of nothing more than pragmatism, will take note of them - and support the status quo!