Terry sat at the kitchen table, staring at the ten shiny dimes Grandpa had placed in front of him. Grandpa always had a way of turning simple things into lessons—especially when it came to God.
"Now, Terry," Grandpa said, sliding one dime away from the others, "this one belongs to God."
Terry’s seven-year-old eyes widened. "Why does God need a dime?"
Grandpa chuckled. "He doesn’t need it, son. But He asks for it to remind us that everything we have comes from Him. This is called a tithe—giving back the first ten percent of whatever we earn."
Terry scrunched up his nose. "So if I get ten dollars one day, I give God one dollar?"
"That’s right," Grandpa said, nodding. "And if you get a hundred dollars, you give ten. It’s a way of trusting Him, knowing that He’ll always take care of you."
Terry thought for a moment, then slid the dime back toward Grandpa. "Can you give it for me?"
Grandpa shook his head. "No, buddy. This is something between you and God."
Reluctantly, Terry picked up the dime, tucked it into his pocket, and later dropped it in the offering plate at church.
The Habit That Stuck
Years passed, and tithing became second nature to Terry. When he earned $10 from mowing lawns, he set aside $1 for God. When he made $100 at his summer job, $10 went into the offering. It was easy, just like Grandpa had said.
Then, life got bigger.
Terry started his own business in his twenties, and soon, he was making real money. One day, as he reviewed his earnings, he realized his tithe for the month would be $1,200."$1,200?!" his best friend Jake blurted out when he saw Terry writing the check. "That’s a mortgage payment! You’re seriously just giving that away?"
Terry laughed. "It’s not mine to keep, Jake. It’s God’s."
"But that’s crazy! When you were a kid, it was easy to give ten cents, but you’re giving away thousands now!"
Terry leaned back, remembering Grandpa’s words. "If you learn to give a dime from a dollar, then giving a dollar from ten is easy. It’s just a habit."
Jake shook his head. "Man, I could never do that."
Terry smiled. "Not if you’ve never done it before. But when you trust God little by little, you realize He never lets you down."
The Test of a Lifetime
One day, Terry received a shocking phone call. A distant relative he barely knew had left him an inheritance—one million dollars.
When the check arrived, Terry sat at his desk, staring at the massive number in his bank account. Then, he took a deep breath, pulled out his checkbook, and wrote a check for $100,000—his tithe.
He never hesitated.
When he handed it to his pastor, the man’s eyes widened. "Terry… are you sure?"
Terry grinned. "Pastor, I was tithing when I had ten dimes. If I didn’t struggle then, I won’t struggle now."
That Sunday, as the offering was collected, Terry felt the same peace he had felt all those years ago when Grandpa first taught him about giving. He knew the truth:It had never been about the money. It had always been about trust.
Malachi 3:10 (NIV) "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."
In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt
