By Jessica Brodie

Have you ever had a problem releasing your tight grip on something, whether that’s a relationship, your money, or just control in general?

Recently, I was reminded about how a small community in southern India handled a monkey problem. The monkeys were a huge problem in their rural community, stealing produce and wreaking havoc. But the people knew the monkeys had a weakness—sweets. So they devised an ingenious solution. They hollowed out a coconut, leaving a small hole just big enough for the monkey’s hand. Then they put a ball of sweetened rice inside, and they tied the coconut securely to a stake on the ground.

The monkey slid his skinny little hand inside the hole to grab the rice—jackpot! Only, now his hand was in a tight fist, and the hole wasn’t large enough. The monkey was stuck. On one hand, he could drop the rice and attain freedom. But the allure was just too strong. He couldn’t let that rice go.

And that’s how the farmers in that small southern Indian community solved their monkey problem. They were able to catch those pesky monkeys who were destroying their crops one at a time, all by appealing to the very thing that tempted them the most.

When I heard that story, I realized an important truth: I used to be that monkey. No, I wasn’t covered in fur, and I didn’t get my hand stuck in a coconut trying to go after some rice. Only for me, my sweet rice was money and security.

And it took learning how to surrender my crazy-tight grasp on that so-called security to find true liberation.

See, many years ago I scoffed at the idea of tithing. If you’re not familiar, tithing means giving a tenth of your income to the church, and it was something God’s people were commanded to do through Moses … to give a tenth of their produce, their “firstfruits,” to the Lord as a sign of faith, worship, and obedience (Exodus 23:19, Leviticus 23:10). I assumed tithing was only something wealthy people did, people who had it all together. I also convinced myself that it wasn’t really necessary any longer… that it was an “Old Testament thing,” like animal and grain sacrifices, that ended with Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross .

Then my husband and I took a financial class at our church … and I became convicted I was absolutely wrong.

It turns out Jesus talked about tithing, too. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus called out the hypocrisy of the pharisees, who were tithing but also being awful to the people, saying, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”

Jesus didn’t say focus on justice and mercy, not tithing. Nope, Jesus said they need to do both—tithe and uphold justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

And just like that, gone was my former selfish justification. Just like that my eyes were opened. It became a matter of obedience that we tithe, I realized.

And once I could see the truth, I couldn’t unsee it.

It was time for my monkey hand to let that ball of sweet rice go and surrender.

We began to tithe, and we haven’t stopped since.

That’s the crux here: Surrender. And it’s why today, all those years later, I’m just as committed to tithing—even when times are hard, even when we have a medical issue or our washing machine breaks, even when I’m super tight on money.

It took me far too long to really get the message: that all I have and all I am belongs to God, that “my” money is not my own but God’s, that He’s the owner and I’m just His manager.

In fact, we’re told that in the very beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 1:28, God blessed the man and the woman, his creation, and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (NIV). And later in Genesis 2:15 we’re told, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

Rule. Work. Care. That’s our job. We’re managers! And God’s the boss, both when it comes to Eden, the fish in the sea, and my paycheck. I’m “in charge” of it, just like I’m in charge of my kids. But are they “mine”? My possession? My creation? Not in the slightest. It’s God’s. It’s all God’s.

And just like that, in one simple understanding, I was set free from the chains of money, from the human-imposed shackles of possession and selfishness, from the fears and the worries.

In Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus tells us, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

As a believer, one who belongs to Christ, then why am I so worried about my money, my things, my future? Why am I spinning my wheels and spending so much time clinging with my scrawny, tiny little monkey hand to that ball of sweet rice when what the Lord has in store is so much greater than I can imagine?

No more.

I close by sharing my top five big reasons why we tithe in our home:

One, the Bible says to.

I’m not God. I didn’t write the Bible, I didn’t make the world or the universe, and I didn’t breathe myself into life or knit myself together in my mother’s womb. As much as I try at times to control my tiny sphere on this planet, there’s actually very little I control. But I serve the One who does control it all: God, the Lord Almighty, the Great I Am. God told us to tithe, and I assume God knows what’s good for me. God’s son, Jesus – who is also God – told us to tithe, and to take it a step further with our love and our justice and our mercy. As a Jesus follower, I try to do what he says to do. It’s a matter of obedience.

Two, our biblical role models did it and said we should.

In Genesis 14:20: Abram “gave [God] a tenth of everything” to show his gratitude for defeating his enemies. In Genesis 28:18-22, we’re told that in response to God’s blessing, Jacob promised God that, “of all that You give me, I will give You a tenth.” Moses did it. The Israelites did it, at least when they were being obedient. As a devout Jew, Jesus and his followers would have done it. Why should I behave any differently?

Three, tithing is an act of worship and honor to the Lord.

I don’t need to know why God wants me to tithe, or what God plans to do with the money. I certainly don’t know how or why he created the world. But Deuteronomy 14:22-23 says, “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year … so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.” Revere the Lord always. That sounds a lot like “put God first,” or like Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” It's an act of worship.

Four, it helps.

Tithing supports my church. It enables my pastors to get paid and the lights to stay on and for our congregation to do important mission work in the community and the world. It enables us to reach other people with the good news that Jesus Christ loves them and wants them in the family. As part of the body of Christ, we’re all in this together. I’m supposed to help.

Five, it’s a way for me to love God with something that’s precious to me.

Have you ever heard the saying, “You can tell what someone cares about by what they spend their time and money on”? It’s a cliché for a reason. Jesus said something like it when he said in Matthew 6:21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Twice every single month, every time we get paid, the very first thing we list at the very top of our budget is our tithe. It’s first for a reason: We want to give God our “firstfruits.” I don’t automatically have my tithe deducted from my paycheck, either. I want to feel it when I give. I want that giving to be an act that I’m focused on, that I have to pay attention to. I want to say with my actions, “I, Jessica, am consciously taking this money and I’m putting it here. I’m tithing it to God’s work.” It becomes, for me, an act of faith. Because, see, I know me. And I know, in my heart of hearts, that little desperate, selfish girl is still in there. Her tiny little monkey hand is still clutching tightly, worried her needs won’t be provided. And taking that little step of faith, twice a month, sets me straight. It reminds me to keep my priorities in alignment with the ways of the Lord.

So if you’re clinging to worldly things, like money or false notions of security, let go. Remember that God will provide, just like God provides for the birds and wildflowers. Release your grip.

And let God show you who’s really in control.

Note: Today’s blog is excepted from a message I was blessed to bring at my church (Mount Hebron UMC, West Columbia, SC) Nov. 24. If you’d like to watch the full service and sermon, see video below: