Providing for the bride

I mentioned on Sunday that I had to cut a lot of material from my message, and one of the things that I cut was an illustration that I think helps us see our tithe from God’s perspective.

Imagine you are a rich man, a billionaire, you went away for a long period, and you left ten stewards to take care of your wife.  You made arrangements for each steward to receive $10,000 per month, and you instructed each one of them to provide $1000 a month to your wife so that she would be taken care of.

After a year or so, you call your wife and ask her, “How are things going dear?  Are you getting your monthly provision?”  She then proceeds to tell you that five of the men have been faithfully giving $1000 per month, two of the men have been giving her $3000 per month, two of the men give are giving her $100 per month, and one of them has given nothing. What would your response be?  I’ll tell you what I would do:

• The men giving her $1000 per month - I would thank them for their faithfulness, and I would continue with our arrangement.
• The men giving her only $100 per month – there is no way I would continue giving them a $10,000 per month allotment.  I would reduce their allotment to $1000 per month, with instructions to continue giving my wife $100 per month.
• The man that is giving nothing – I would discontinue our arrangement.
• But the men that were giving my wife $3000 per month – Seeing that they have such a heart for taking care of my wife, I would take the allotment that I took from the other men, and give it to them. I would increase their allotment!

How does this relate to us?  The church is the bride of Christ (Eph 5), and God has instructed us, as faithful stewards, to provide for His bride with the provision that He has given to us.

Think about that:  God trusts us to take care of His bride!

Pastor Clay