A Devil of A Financial Plan

(This first appeared in the Christian Standard, June 16, 2002.)

Clyde sat at his desk, working feverishly. Wilma, his wife of 30 years, watched him. Clyde would write something down, poke some numbers into a calculator, and write some more. Finally Wilma’s curiosity got the better of her. She went over to her excited husband.
“Honey, you’ve been there for two hours. What are you doing? Clyde put a finger up.
“Just a second Darling, let me add this last set of numbers. “Yeah, he said with a note of satisfaction. He jumped to his feet with a piece of paper in hand.
“Honey, I’ve done it! I figured out a way to finance that trip to Hawaii that we’ve been dreaming about.”
“Wilma sat down. This had been a dream of theirs for as long as they had been married. This ought to be good.
“The first thing we need to do is to skip our house payment for eight months. That will take care of our airfare. First class I might add.”
“Clyde” Wilma started, but Clyde kept on going.
“Honey, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. If we skip the electric company payment for a year, and the phone company and the water bill, that will take care of our lodging. A condo on the beach. I can finally work on my tan.”
“Uh, Clyde.”
“In a minute, sweetheart. I’ll bet you thought I forgot about food and entertainment. Well, honey, nothing but the best restaurants. I figure if we just skip our income tax and property tax payments, we will have more than enough for gourmet meals three times a day. And, if we skip our insurance payments on the car and the house, we can have enough money for those great tours in this brochure.” Clyde’s voice was getting excited with each statement.
“Sweetheart,” said Wilma weakly.
“Oh, honey, I knew you would be excited. You are as white as a sheet. Overcome with joy, that’s what you are.”
“Well, I’m overcome, that’s for sure.”
“It will be a vacation to remember. You’ll see.”

It sure will. If Clyde and Wilma take all their money from normal living and apply it to this vacation, as soon as they return home, they will be met by bill collectors, the police, the Internal Revenue Service, and who knows what other people. Is the plan silly? Of course it is.
Then why do people use this same plan with their giving to special projects to the church?
Most folks have an amount they give to the church. That money is put in the offering plate or mailed in. The church then carefully and prayerfully spends it on salaries, utilities, insurances, educational materials, and lots of other necessary things.
So what happens with a special project comes up? A project that needs money in addition to the other church needs? Simple. Most people will take a chunk out of their regular giving and give that portion to a building program, a traveling missionary, the latest youth group fund raiser, or some other good cause.
We are more like Clyde than we think. If we follow his plan, the regular programs of the church will suffer. Here is God’s plan: Malachi 3:8. “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings.”
In Bible times, people gave one tenth of their income to the temple/church. They gave offerings above and beyond that tithe to special projects.
I know. That seems like quite a bit. But consider a church in the New Testament. Paul marveled because of their giving. “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.” 2 (Corinthians 8:2-4).
As we look at extra church, missionary, or building projects, which plan shall we use- God’s or Clyde’s?