Does TurboTax Know You Tithe?

By Robert Redd

 

When I first became a Christian, about 4 years ago, a good friend of mine told me “Robert, the last thing you’ll turn over to God is your wallet.”  At the time, I really had no idea what it meant to tithe.  He challenged me to listen to a CD called “A Blessed Life” by Robert Morris and that if I would tithe for 3 months and it didn’t work out for some reason, he’d pay me back.

 

Well, the first step was to listen to this CD and learn what tithing really means.  My wife and I both took turns listening to the CD.  On one particular night, I was finishing up listening to the CD while driving home from Greensboro and the message on tithing was really hitting home.  Deep down I was hoping my wife, Elizabeth, was hearing the same message, since I knew this would have to be a family decision.  It was dark, it was raining, and I was moving down I-40 with some fairly heavy traffic.  Right at that moment, as I listened to the message in the CD, I looked up in my rearview mirror and there was an amber cross lit up right before my eyes.  My grip on the steering wheel tightened, my breath caught short, and my eyes teared up as I realized an 18 wheeler had come up behind me with the cross lit up at night on his front grill.  Even as a brand new Christian, I knew nothing happens in this world by “chance”.  I didn’t need much more of a wake-up call than that.

 

Later that night, I discussed the message in the CD on tithing with my wife and it especially affected her as well.  More than anything she wanted some tangible evidence of God’s real presence in the world around us.  She was a believer, but she really desired that “show me” factor that I think everyone looks for deep down.  Well, we couldn’t think of a better way to witness God’s truly super-natural powers in the real world around us than to truly step out on faith and just do what scripture teaches us to test God on. 

 

Malachi 3:10 says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

 

I don’t know of any other instances where God says we can test him!  And God makes it so easy to determine how much to tithe.  The very definition of tithe is one tenth.  So, we don’t even need to try and figure out how much we can afford if we decide to go ahead and truly tithe.  Each time my wife and I are paid, we just look at the Gross income, that’s the number BEFORE taxes and social security are paid out to our Government and then we just move the decimal over one place.  There’s the tithe…. And yes, that seems like a lot! 

 

But, that’s the whole idea.  Elizabeth and I have been tithing ever since that day.  We’ve never been in NEED of anything.  Sure, I’d love a high-def TV and other things.  However, the real blessing is what we receive in return from God.  This is why I’m writing this.  Elizabeth and I just want to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ the wonderful lesson of seeing God work super-naturally in the world around us.  For me, the tithe reduces the dependency I feel on myself to provide for the family.  I feel less worry about wondering if we’ll have enough money to make it in this world.  Elizabeth gets to see the very real interaction of God in our world around us.  The fact that we can pay our bills and have a roof over our heads and food on the table while continuing to tithe is very real proof to her of God’s supernatural influence in the world around us.  We’ve realized that it’s not about the Church needing our money in this case.  It’s about God giving us an opportunity to test his ability to provide for those that give with a loving heart and to trust in him and him alone to provide.  God doesn’t NEED our help… or our money, although he can definitely use it for good purposes.  It’s a gift to us from God to be able to see his power and love by stepping out in a real physical test of faith. 

 

It’s always hard to talk about these things because you don’t want to sound like your bragging about your ability to give.  But the reason we share this with you is that we want others to see the opportunity God gives us to experience His love in a very real way.  Now, why did I title this message like I did?  Well, the coolest thing to me each year is that when I do the Audit Check in Turbo Tax, it comes back and alerts me that I may be at a risk of being audited because it detects that I’ve given more than 10% of our Gross Income to charitable gifts.  That’s when I stand up, raise my hands in the air, and praise God for this wonderful gift.