God Doesn’t Use Reward Tables

Several years ago, one of my colleagues with whom I was sharing an after-work meal, asked me if I tithe my salary. To tithe is to give ten percent (10%) of your gross salary to the church. It is an Old Testament practice that is still followed by most modern-day Abrahamic faiths. It is different from the offering and is on a voluntary basis. She was quite taken aback by my view that the tithe was not mine but God's. The job itself was a gift from Him and such a small portion of my salary given to His church was not an unreasonable demand. My tithe is an act of love and appreciation. Only the cleanest or newest money was used for the tithe. They were folded neatly and placed in envelopes provided by the church. Freewill offerings were handled in similar fashion. Moses said In Leviticus 27:30 (KJV):

"³⁰And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord."

Tithes and freewill offerings to the church are supposed to be given with the mindset of any charitable donation. We don't expect anything in return. We don't feed or clothe the homeless expecting them to clean our yards or wash our cars. It's our duty as Believers to help the unfortunate, as commanded by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He spoke prophetically in Matthew Chapter 25:31 to 46, of the coming time when all nations shall be gathered to Him and sorted into two groups. Those considered to be goats, did not live charitably and will be sent to "eternal punishment" in the "the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels". Of those that He called sheep, who will inherit the kingdom prepared "from the foundation of the world", He said in verses 35 to 40 (KJV):

"³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?  ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Currently there is a prevalent teaching among evangelists about sowing seeds. Believers are to give a certain amount of money to the churh and in a fixed period of time, God will return their sown sum with a specific increase. For example, sowing a seed of $500 will lead to a harvest of $5,000 and so on. Even a scripture verse will be used to support the scheme, even if it has no bearing whatsoever on the subject matter. Psychological manipulation can pervert any text and convince the ignorant of anything. This is the source of much ridicule that Believers face today from non-Believers.

There is no Reward Table in the Kingdom of God. We cannot quantify God's all-encompassing blessing into dollars and cents. It is not our place to expect a monetary blessing from our Creator simply because a self-proclaimed man or woman of God has said so. Especially, when a monetary blessing is not part of God's plan for us at this time. God's Will may be that we have good health for our entire family. A loved one may overcome their battle with an addiction. A long-time single person may meet their life partner. A natural disaster may not destroy our home or an accident may not cause severe injury. How narrow-minded it is, to convince Believers that God's blessing will only come in the form of money.

It is just as bad to convince Believers that a monetary seed can guarantee a non-monetary blessing. As aforementioned, it is by God's Will and not our own. There is an old saying among Believers that 'God does not give us what we want but what we need, whether we like it or not.' We may want a particular job but He knows what is best for us, and we need to stay working where we are because of a coming promotion; or a job opportunity at a place we didn't consider within our reach. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in our hearts and warns us against teachings that are contrary to God's own Word. If the still, small voice tells you that the preacher is preaching bunk then he or she probably is. It is such a shame that with so many lost and hurting people, evangelists don't choose to speak of God's love, healing, forgiveness and compassion. That message was good enough for Jesus Christ's ministry here on earth. Isn't it good enough for us now?

‘F’ is for Fornication

Human beings can be pretty obsessed with sex. As a result, this is a topic that will be covered here more than once. It's intricate and will require more attention than this post. Nowadays, people spend a considerable amount of time concerned with who's doing what, with whom, when, how, and why. Most Believers don't have pre-marital sex at all and for some reason, this fascinates people who do. Notice that I didn't write 'All Believers' because there will be no hypocrisy on this blog. Of course, there are Believers having pre-marital sex. They aren't supposed to but everyone has a weakness. For some unmarried Believers, carnal pleasure with a willing party can weaken willpower faster than kryptonite drops Superman. That is their cross to bear and it is absolutely not our place to judge them.


The general modern view is that to abstain from pre-marital sex, is to deny ourselves the breathtaking experience of completely connecting to another human being. In addition, we're missing out on the most pleasurable recreational activity in the known universe. Herein lays the misunderstanding. Believers are not anti-sex. We're anti-fornication. Fornication! The mere word conjures up images of angry zealots pointing fingers, pumping fists and throwing stones. According to the Concise Oxford English dictionary, the word means "to have sexual intercourse with someone one is not married to" AKA pre-marital sex.


For brevity's sake, I'm going to highlight just one scripture that outlines why Believers are not supposed to have pre-marital sex. On St. Paul's last visit to Jerusalem, the church elders there told him in Acts Chapter 21:25 (KJV):

^"25As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication."

God's Word shows His intent that sex was designed for married couples to enjoy. As a matter of fact, marital sex is described as not only enjoyable but ravishing. In Proverbs Chapter 5:18 to 19 (KJV) a man is told:

^"18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. ¹⁹Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love."

The Bible doesn't consider sex to be dirty but intensely delightful. However fornication among God's people is not allowed under either the Old or New Testaments.


There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a virgin bride or groom. Those who have openly chosen to save their sexual activity for marriage often become objects of ridicule, curiosity or even on rare occasion, admiration. No matter what, there is a tremendous amount of peer pressure to just give in and "get some". Once it is understood that Father God did not lay down rules to restrict us but to protect us. To share your body with someone who is really physically attractive or really rich and smart is just not good enough. To share your body and life, with someone you're absolutely in love with is not good enough. For them to absolutely love you is not good enough. It is the act of commitment, a man and woman publicly vowing to spend a lifetime together. That alone is good enough and we all deserve nothing less.