How much should we tithe?

Could you name the three without looking at the bill?

“I barely have enough.”

This is one of the most overheard lines in a life of a Bible School student (or any student, for that matter). For someone who lives a life of faith, literally waiting for the Lord to provide for the expenses, and when the funds come, it is usually just enough.

For pastors, the vast majority are “living by faith”, which means dependent on the congregation for their income. Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, it is unheard of for a pastor to be doing bivocational jobs, or having a “day” job. Times are changing. We do have some pastors who are called to be tent-makers. I do, however, respect that there are pastors called for full-time (that’s a topic we could discuss for another post).

This post points to the question, “should pastors, or Bible school students, tithe?” However, the principle also applies to those who are not pastors and Bible school students.

Should we oust the President?

What assurance do we have that these guys won’t raise their fist when the next president sits? (Photo courtesy of: http://www.getrealphilippines.com)

Hong Kong Tourist Fiasco. Handling Yolanda. SAF 44. Not showing up for the arrival honors. The list is longer than we think. People are getting jittery. My teacher in history once said, “six years are short for a good president, and too long for a bad one.” There are rumors of coup de’ etat. There are rallies done by the left. Social media has been so divisive on the issue of our president. How should we, as one who carries the name of Christ, react or handle this situation? Should we be joining the rallies, post on social media about our anger and frustration against the government?

Rightful Complaint?

I am an Ambassador of Christ, disguised as a guy who serves coffee.

When I was a barista, back in the days when I served coffee for a living, there are two things that I was trained to do. The first one is to get the customer’s name right, and the second is to make sure that I get the coffee correctly. We have seen our glaring errors in social media when we misspell a customer’s name and we have our fair share of customers who would change an entire cup because his or her name is misspelled. The second thing we need to get is to have the correct order, specially when it comes to the coffee. After all, the store I worked for is known for having the best service when it comes to coffee. So why am I talking about this? You see, customers feel that they have the sense of entitlement because they paid for their coffee, and mind you, it is expensive. The question is, do we, as Christians, have the right to complain? How do we feel when things are not going our way?

Even the best fall down sometimes…

When we disobey, we sin and we suffer the consequences. In the case of Moses (Numbers 20), the instruction of God to him was pretty simple: take the staff and speak to the rock to yield water. Let’s examine what Moses did and the consequence of his sin.