Speech presented by John Simmons from Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church

Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

It is probably very safe to assume that when it comes to paying our taxes (unto Caesar) that the faithful of our Church do just that.  However the part about rendering unto God that which is God’s is probably not true.

In Malachi 3: 8-11, God, for the one and only time in Scriptures tells us to test Him in this one thing…that is when we give to God the tithe (10%), that which is His, we will indeed be blessed beyond all we can imagine.  In fact it says that the windows of Heaven will be opened and blessings will overflow to us.

Now giving 10% to God when we can’t pay our bills makes no sense to some.  In fact many will say that giving like that simply is not logical.  Yet much about what we as Catholic Christians believe is not logical in the worldly sense but in God’s eye they are very logical.  Why not open our hearts and our minds to more of God’s logic and less of the worlds?  He says to test Him in this and I would encourage you to do just that.

Prayerfully and with all the faith you can muster step out and give as the widow did in Luke 21:3.  She did not make her offering out of her surplus but out of her need. If more of us did that this Church would see blessings poured out from the windows of Heaven and we would be able to minister to the poor and needy around us like never before.

We have seen the principle of tithing work in over lives over the years and know that God will be as faithful to you as He has been to us.  You can not out give God.  He will do what He has said in His Word.  But you have to have the faith to take the first step.