Like a child

There is tithing and there is offering. My church here in Singapore, Trinity Christian Centre has an additional way of giving called Faith Promises. This is giving on top of tithes and offerings. It is making a promise to give an amount you don’t yet have and do not know if you might have when it is time to fulfill that promise.

In my seat, my eyes grew a little wider and I scribbled “wahliao!” on my course booklet.

The truth is, you actually do KNOW that you would have that amount to give in the end, IF you have the faith that God-can-do-anything-through-me. The question then becomes: How much?

Pastor Lam shared a story about a little girl in children’s church who made a faith promise on year. The little girl wrote on a piece of paper, $10,000 and gave it to her teacher. The teacher approached Pastor Lam, the children pastor then, and asked, “How, ah?” Pastor Lam looked at the paper, was at loss for words for a while, and asked the teacher to check with the little girl if she had meant $10, or $100, or had misplaced the comma, or confused it with the period.

The little girl said, “No! God said ten thousand dollars!” They honoured her faith.

So the $10,000 was imputed into the aggregate church Faith Promise….

A year later it was time to fulfill the promise. The little girl approached Pastor Lam and asked if she remembered her, the girl who promised $10,000? Pastor Lam said, yes, of course.

The little girl said her grandma had recently passed away and bequeathed upon her family $10,000. Her parents had said since she promised that amount by faith, they will fulfill it by giving to the church, for global missions work.

God never shortchanges our faith. We will never lack.

Oh, to have faith like the little girl’s-- God said; it will be done.