I started getting an allowance when I was 9 years old. It came with the understanding that I would clean my room(in response to the EPA declaring it a Superfund Toxic waste site) and fulfill certain other responsibilities around the house. I believe that the going rate in 1969 was 50c a week and I was happy to have it. I could get a Hostess Suzy-Q for 12c at the White Hen Pantry down the road. I was rich!
But with my sizable income, my parents also gave me an important lesson. While I had to work in order to get my allowance, I should always remember that it was God Who made it possible and who provided my needs. And in order to acknowledge that every penny of that 50 pennies belonged to Him, He asked me to give a portion of it back. So, at 9 years old, I learned to tithe. The first nickel of my allowance went in an offering envelope as soon as I got it, and on Sunday I gladly gave it to the Lord.
Two years later, at the age of eleven, we had our first Faith Promise Missions Conference at the church that my dad pastored. I had always loved missionaries. When they would come to our church, they would sit at our dinner table and I was in awe. I remember K.C. Thomas, a native of India, who went back to reach his people for Christ, sitting at our table. My mother had gone all out and fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The missionary took one chicken leg and a small portion of the other things and began eating. He completely stripped the chicken leg, gristle, marrow, and all, eating every edible(and a few inedible) part. My mother was alarmed. She said, “Bro. Thomas, there is plenty of chicken. You can have another piece. You don’t have to do that.”
His reply, “Where I live, it is disrespectful to waste anything. So many are starving who would long to have what we throw away.” That touched my heart.
Because I was now old enough to mow the lawn, my income had increased dramatically. I now received a whole dollar a week in allowance. And when the time came to make a Faith Promise, it was explained to us that we were to pray about what God would have us to give to missions, make a commitment by faith, and then trust God to provide it.
I don’t remember the deliberation process, but I do remember that I was convinced that God would have me give $1.00 per week to Missions. I’d like to say that I had great faith, but it may just have been that I was bad at math. $1.00 allowance minus .10 tithe minus $1.00 for missions equals…hmmm, how is this going to work? But I made the promise and I prayed.
I was sure that my parents would see my dilemma and increase my allowance, or that God would let me find nickels and dimes along the road on my way to school, or that Ed McMahon would show up at my door with one of those big cardboard checks. However He did it, I knew that God would provide.
Later that week, our next door neighbor came for a visit. He and his wife had an 18-month old son. He worked 9 to 5 and his wife had to leave for work at about 3:30. She would put their son down for his nap before she left and they needed someone to be there until he got home. He asked if I would be interested. They would pay me the whopping sum of $1.35…A DAY!!!!!!!
I started on Thursday, so by the time Sunday rolled around and it was time to give my Faith Promise, I not only was able to give my tithe that had now increased to $.37, but I was able to give a dollar to missions and still have twice what my allowance had been left over.
It taught me a lesson that I have never forgotten. God will be a debtor to no one. He cares about missions and He blesses when we step out in faith.
Please understand, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. But it is an assurance that we don’t have to be afraid to step out in faith when God lays it on our heart. I challenge you to consider what God would have you to do to have a part in Missions through Grace Harbor Baptist Church.
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