"Lord, What Do You Require Of Me?"

The Youth Pastor of Bethel Church, Redding California said this at a close-knit leaders meeting:

"Sometimes people struggle to tithe even 10% of what they earn, to God. But people fail to see that the 10% is not the point. Some folks just don't get it. God doesn't want your 10%. God doesn't want your tithes... He wants everything you('ve) got."

And rightly so. It makes a lot of sense. It is even logical.

Story time.
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A certain Church attendee from a certain city in the county of Los Angeles, was attending Church one night. This attendee, a man, loved God very much, and was a faithful servant of God. During the worship service, God spoke to the man and told him to give into the offering bag everything that he had in his pocket.

(Background: The area of the certain county of Los Angeles was not a well-off area, and neither were the Church attendees of the smallish medium sized Church.)

The man checked his pockets, and found $120, and was hesitant to give all of it into the offering, because the $120 was all the cash that he had, in that current financial moment. He knew that God had spoken; he had heard so clearly, but on the other hand he thought about his family, his wife and children.

As the offering bag came around, he decided to put in $100. He justified himself by thinking that it is his responsibility to at least put food on the table for his family. He justified himself further by thinking that he had given most of what he had to God, and that was better than most others. As the service continued, somebody slipped a note inside the man's pocket. The man noticed the note, but did not open it, for some unknown reason. Perhaps he was listening to the sermon intently.

After the service had ended, while leaving the Church, the man felt the note in his pocket. He plucked it out, opened it up, and found a $100 bill inside with no messages attached. This time God spoke to him loud and clear: "You can have your $100 back. I asked for all you had."
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