18. Tithing helps me have a healthy attitude about my work.
(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.)
DO YOU TITHE? HOW?
DO YOU FIND IT HARD TO LET GO OF THINGS YOU HAVE EARNED, TO SHARE?
IF YOUR CHECKBOOK AND YOUR CALENDAR REFLECT WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU, WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?
We likely know people for whom we would say that they take their work too seriously, or they spend too much time at work. Maybe you or I am that person. In our culture, being busy and working hard can often be seen as a sign of success. On the other hand, many people when they reach the end of their lives would say that they wished they had done more things instead of work, that they had spent less time at the office and more time with family and friends.
It can be difficult to have a healthy attitude about our work, it can be even more difficult to implement healthy boundaries and rhythms in our work.
Without some kind of discipline or practice it will be hard to balance our work lives with other important areas of our lives. One discipline that can help with this is the practice of tithing.
When we tithe, we give away some of what we have or have control over. The act of letting go of something we have earned or deserve can help set us free from the power that work and things have over us. Our work has power over us when we place too high of a value on what we get from it: money, power, importance, or significance. When we intentionally and deliberately give away some of that, it can help break the power of those outcomes.
Tithing is not limited to our finances; we can also tithe on our time by volunteering for something that doesn’t give anything back to us. If importance is a high value for us, we might volunteer to do something that brings no attention to ourselves. If we place too much value on our time, we might choose to do things that take time but don’t contribute to our productivity; we might plant a garden, take care of our own house or yard, wash our car instead of driving through the carwash, anything that takes time away from what we think is more important.
Even sleep can be a form of tithing when we choose to go to bed early and get eight hours of sleep instead of “burning the midnight oil” and depriving ourselves of rest in order to accomplish more. In Acts 20:35 the Apostle Paul says that Jesus said “it is more blessed to give than receive.” When we give, one of the blessings we receive is that we experience freedom from the power of work and productivity.