{"id":707,"date":"2018-11-13T06:44:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T06:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=707"},"modified":"2018-11-13T12:44:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T12:44:32","slug":"the-amazing-technology-that-helped-me-take-my-giving-to-a-new-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2018\/11\/the-amazing-technology-that-helped-me-take-my-giving-to-a-new-level.html","title":{"rendered":"The Amazing Technology That Helped Me Take My Giving to a New Level"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"unsplash-logoArtem
Artem Bali<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I grew up in church. I knew the right things, I was taught the right things, and for awhile I did what I thought was right when it came to giving. I gave to God, like I thought I was supposed to, but I gave to God on my terms. As long as I had enough, I gave God from the leftovers. I didn\u2019t trust Him first.<\/span><\/p>\n

For awhile, that worked, or at least I thought it did. I\u2019m naturally conservative with my money and there was usually money at the end of the month, and I gave to God out of that.\u00a0<\/span>And then I got married. And then I had kids. All of a sudden, I wasn\u2019t just supporting myself, I was supporting a family, and all of a sudden I didn\u2019t always have money at the end of the month.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was a full-time minister, serving in youth ministry, and I still struggled with giving like I should. So, if\u00a0giving is something that you\u2019ve struggled with over the years, if it\u2019s something that you\u2019re convicted about and know you need to do but struggle, know that I literally have walked where you\u2019ve walked. There have been too many times when I failed the Principle of the Test<\/a>. I got paid, and I didn\u2019t give back to God first like He\u2019s told us to from the beginning of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, and here\u2019s the great news, I\u2019ve figured out a secret, a life hack, a way that\u2019s revolutionized the way I give and it\u2019s been such an incredible blessing to me I want to share it with you.\u00a0<\/span>Once I resolved to start giving to God like I should (this was years and years ago) I still had a problem. Back years ago the only ways to give to the church was either through dropping cash in the plate or drop a check in the offering plate. Only problem was, I never carry cash and I don\u2019t like carrying a checkbook (too bulky, don\u2019t have a man purse to put it in). So every week the offering plate would come by and and I\u2019d think, \u201cI want to give, I really do, but I don\u2019t have cash or a check on me. I\u2019ll give next week.\u201d And I really meant it. I was absolutely sincere.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem was, I\u2019d let\u00a0five or six weeks go by before I finally remembered to bring a check, and by that time, I was so far behind on my tithe that if I caught up the check would bounce. I wanted to do right but struggled with remembering every single week to bring a check.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then, and then, an amazing thing happened: technology. Technology advanced enough that you could start giving online, and even better than that, you could automatically schedule your payments.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, I\u2019ve figured out a way to nail the Principle of the Test (every time you get paid, you take a test on whether God is really first in your finances), every time. I started it years ago and when I recently moved here I automatically set up to give online to my church<\/a>. I get paid on the 1st and the 15th, like many folks. My tithe gets withdrawn automatically from my account twice a month, on the 1st and 15th. Whether I miss a Sunday or not, whether I\u2019m out of town or not, whether I\u2019m sick or not, I\u2019m still getting paid by my work so I\u2019m still experiencing the Principle of the Test. <\/span><\/p>\n

And so, through online recurring giving, I nail the Principle of the Test, every time. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up in church. I knew the right things, I was taught the right things, and for awhile I did what I thought was right when it came to giving. I gave to God, like I thought I was supposed to, but I gave to God on my terms. As long as I had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15,46,47,52,348,254,53],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-next-steps","tag-church","tag-give","tag-giving","tag-offering","tag-principle","tag-test","tag-tithe"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Amazing Technology That Helped Me Take My Giving to a New Level - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For years I wanted to give to the church but always seemed to fall behind. 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