In this article, Randy Alcorn addresses the difference between holding on to what belongs to God and delivering it to where it needs to go.

When it comes to stewardship, it doesn't matter how much you have, what matters is what you do with what you have. In this article, Brett Skinner turns to the story of the rich young ruler to address the topic of stewardship and how to decipher if money is your master.

With things off to a fast start and generous individuals enabling our effort, I thought it would reflect the heart of our ministry philosophy to let you know up front how we handle your giving.

Over the past 17 years — in the prosperity gospel, the seeker-driven church movement, and reformed-ish world — I’ve seen my fair share of manipulative tactics by greedy preachers and by wealthy parishioners. It seems that one cannot simply relegate money-manipulation to one theological camp, or only to leaders. Rather, it is common anywhere sin resides and wages war within every human heart.

The term “tithing” isn’t as controversial as the definition is. Quite often, in faithful churches around the world, you will hear the word “tithe” attached to “offerings” as a traditionally general way to describe giving. A pastor might say, “This morning you can give your tithes and offerings in the buckets as they go by or online.”

Prosperity-gospel preachers are notorious for taking Scripture out of context and misapplying it. The passages they twist are primarily used as proof-texts to back up their claim that God’s will for every Christian is that they be rich, rich, rich! They promise that with enough faith (and a big enough offering), you can hit the divine jackpot.

If you asked a large group of Christians what “church membership” is, you’d likely get an answer that sounds a bit like this: Church membership is being a part of a church. If you asked that same group what their role is as a member of Christ’s church you may hear: I am supposed to show up at church.

It’s been well said time and time again that money is like a microscope; magnifying what is really inside of us. In other words, when something affects our wallet, our reaction often reveals our heart. Are we generous where God has called us to be? Are we eager to meet the needs of others? Are we content in seasons of little and faithful during seasons of plenty? These are the questions that we ought to ask; trusting the Holy Spirit to convict and shape us through the Word.

Throughout the prophetic books in the Old Testament, we see a pattern in which Israel continuously disobeys the commands God has given to them, is threatened with divine judgment, then repents and cycles into the same pattern again and again. God then uses His prophets to warn His people, and makes promises of future restoration despite their obstinate ways.

Money tests our hearts like little else on earth. Whether it be the test of poverty, or the test of prosperity, money brings out the best and worst in us. Far too often, and I am sure you’d agree, we don’t know as much about God’s view on money as we ought to, but are afraid to admit.

A Twitter poll on my page once asked a simple question about tithing. After well over 1,000 votes (with 17 hours still left in the poll) the results were both encouraging and concerning. It seems that the modern church is still not clear on tithing.