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My husband has never attended church services. He’s had too many unpleasant experiences with organized faith during his long career in law enforcement, culminating when his late wife’s pastor came to his home asking for more money. The man drove a beautiful brand-new car, lived in a luxurious house on a hillside outside of town, and wore expensive suits. At the time, my husband struggled to pay for his family’s necessities.
When my husband and I were dating, I worried about pursuing
a relationship with someone who might not support my faith. Through a strange
encounter. (See: ) I was told to read
1 Peter 3:1. It would answer my question.
“In like manner also
let wives be subject to their husbands: that if any believe not the word, they
may be won without the word, by the conversation of the wives.”
A few months after we met, we had a long discussion
regarding my faith. Although he refused to attend services, he vowed to support
my faith, always. He’s never gone back on that promise, even going as far as driving
me to and from services after my surgeries.
My husband admitted he believes in God and prays. Every
Sunday he asks for a recap of the sermons, but still refused to attend.
To my surprise, he announced he wanted to go with me to church
last Sunday. He gets lonely when I’m gone that long. (Forty-minute drive to and
from church and then, of course, the service.)
I was just happy he wanted to go. Unfortunately, that Sunday’s
sermon was on the Biblical principal of tithing. I don’t need to explain his
reaction.
The next day, he brought up the subject of the sermon. He
had gone with an open mind and left with a closed one. However, to my surprise,
he wants to go again, but only as my escort. (His words). I’m touched, and I
know God will use it for His purpose. So, I leave it in His hands.
In my devotions the next day was this blessing in Numbers
6:24–26. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Peace. Peace about our world, our country, my church, my
family, and my husband’s reasons for attending Sunday services.
Thank you, Lord, again, for your patience and
encouragement. I can’t do this thing called life without you. Amen.
Aw, this was a sweet post. It gave me a bit of peace too.:-)
ReplyDeleteOh good. We can all use some peace in this crazy world. God bless!
DeleteI can understand your husbands' feelings about demands for tithing, some churches seem to think of nothing else, they have literally lost the plot, money is all, and God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not their main focus at all. The problem with humans is they are fallible beings and even Christians can and do hurt each other.
ReplyDeleteAs for tithing, I am going to add a link at the end that covers that subject, tithing was required during Old Testament times, but with the new covenant tithing is no longer a legal requirement, although many mainstream denominations act like it is, constantly demand it and try to put a guilt trip on anyone who does not comply.
We no longer attend a denominational church, our Fellowship is more like a house church, at the moment we are down to 6 members, sometimes 8 or 9, we lost several who have never returned since meetings were banned during Covid and lockdowns.
We the people are the church, we don't own a building, we now rent a village hall for our meetings, and we are a praying people, we don't have a structured service we let the Holy Spirit take the lead.
We support the Fellowship with our offerings, and those offerings are in turn shared with worthy causes, locally and worldwide. As far as we as a couple are concerned, we give a set amount monthly to the Fellowship as well as a weekly offering, we know it is not being abused, and it is benefitting others.
Because we feel that God has blessed us, we also want to share the blessing personally by donating to several outside organisations, both religious and secular, such as Vision for Israel-Joseph's Storehouse, Jewish Voice, Mercy Ships, Smile, Bible Society, and the UK Lifeboat Association RNLI as they are not supported by the government, plus a couple of others.
We went through some very hard times some years back, nearly went bankrupt through no fault of our own, we received help from others, some of it anonymously, and we knew God was protecting us and we truly believe that He has blessed us even more since we were able to start blessing others.
This is the Link: https://archive.gci.org/articles/is-tithing-required-in-the-new-covenant/
Thank you, Jackie for your input. Sorry you had such trouble, but glad you were blessed with help when you needed it. My issue is in God's hands. He can fix anything! :)
DeleteMy dad was like your husband. In later years he accompanied my mom to church when she could no longer drive due to health issues. We prayed for his salvation for nearly 60 years. At about age 85, after my mom passed, my dad finally realized he wasn't actually in control of everything; he became a be!iever and was baptized.
ReplyDeleteThat's an inspiration to us all. As long as there is breath, there's hope. Thank you for sharing.
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