From beginning to end, Scripture repeatedly emphasizes God's ownership of everything: "To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it" .When I grasp that I'm a steward, not an owner, it totally changes my perspective.

The tithe is God's historical method to get us on the path of giving. In that sense, it can serve as a gateway to the joy of grace giving. It's unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop, but it can still be a good place to start.

Give more as you make more. Remember: God prospers us not to raise our standard of living, but to raise our standard of giving.

Whenever we have excess, giving should be our natural response. It should be the automatic decision, the obvious thing to do in light of Scripture and human need.

Many [Western Christians] habitually think and act as if there is no eternity. . . . We major in the momentary and minor in the momentous.

Something nonhuman doesn’t become human by getting older and bigger; whatever is human is human from the beginning.

A nominal Christian often discovers in suffering that his faith has been in his church, denomination, or family tradition, but not Christ. As he faces evil and suffering, he may lose his faith. But that’s actually a good thing. I have sympathy for people who lose their faith, but any faith lost in suffering wasn’t a faith worth keeping.