Stewardship

Many of you may have seen last week's fiasco about the Pastor leaving a cheap tip at an Applebees.  Apparently a Pastor decided that 10% was enough for God, so it's enough for the waitress who served him. There's more to the story, but there's a couple of glaring problems here.

God doesn't demand 10% of our gross income.  As has been documented elsewhere, the Old Testament required three different "tithes", one of which was only due 2 out of every 7 years.  These tithes supported the entire nation of Israel, including the government.  Thus, it's a bit of a distortion to say that the Bible calls people to give 10% of their income to their church.  The New Testament says that each person should give what they have decided in their heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion.  I believe that 10% is a great target to shoot for, but that there's also no reason not to reach higher!

Secondly, I believe that there may be a need for a larger definition of stewardship.  When "stewardship" is taught as a Biblical topic, often it descends into "give 10% to the church and save wisely for the future with the rest."  I think that we can do better than that.  Stewardship must grow to encompass all of our dealings with money.  I've heard too many waiters and waitresses complain that Sunday lunch is the worst time for tips.  The Bible doesn't seem to make generosity optional - wise stewardship should include generous gifts to others.

What we do with our money says a lot about what we value in terms of justice.  I'm grossly guilty of failing to be a wise steward with my money in terms of where I shop.  When I pick up a clearance-rack $10 dress shirt at Kohl's, I know in my gut that I'm buying a shirt that was probably handled at one point by a slave.  I know that Kraft earned a resounding "F" on BetterWorldShopper for justice issues, but when the coupon and the sale line up, I just can't resist!  Perhaps when we teach stewardship, we should talk about not just what we spend money on, but where our money goes when we hand it to a cashier!