Kawalala-Thief

It was so good to be back with my friends teaching yesterday. I had been out for 3 weeks so it was nice to reunite with them and hear all that was going on with them. I told the story from Mark 12:41-44 about the woman who gave out of her poverty everything she possessed. Then we looked in depth at Malachi 3:8-12. You guessed it, the lesson was on giving tithes and offerings. I'm not sure why people struggle with the concept of tithing and it isn't just in Zambia, it is all over the world. In a lot of the churches that we go to there may be 45 people and the tithe will be around k5,000 which is about $1.50. Simply put, people are not tithing. Yet, this past weekend at the women's meeting I went to, they had secret friends. They were to get them a gift and bring it to the meeting. It is a big deal giving the gift to their friend in front of everyone-singing, dancing, and carrying on. One woman gave her friend two chitenges and a shirt. That would cost about k35,000. So I asked the women how they could come up with money to buy something for their friend but hold back when it came time to give to God. Some of the answers were: they don't have enough faith, they care more about physical things than spiritual things, etc. I tend to think it is because they can't see God physically and they don't fear Him like they should. They think more about what their friends are going to think than what God thinks. In Malachi it says , "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me." I believe our churches all around the world are filled with thieves(kawalala in nyanja). People who are robbing God, sit on the pews, logs, or mud benches thinking they are doing God a favor by showing up for church. Well, I don't know about you but I surely don't want God to call me a thief! The women had not thought about that before. One woman commented afterwards that at first she agreed that there were probably some thieves in the church then she realized that she was one herself at times. I thought that was a pretty wise and mature observation.