Skip to main content

**Heading: "Joyful Obedience: Where Duty Meets Delight"**


Last week, as Eskom plunged Akasia into yet another stage of load-shedding, I sat in the flicker of a candle, counting coins like a Pharisee measuring mint leaves. My toddler’s school fees had just doubled, and the rand’s dance against the dollar felt more like a funeral dirge. Tithing? It seemed as practical as planting a mango tree in a hailstorm. But then I remembered the *ubuntu* of my grandmother: *“Umntu ngumntu ngabantu”*—"I am because we are." Her words, steeped in Scripture and sweat, reminded me that obedience isn’t arithmetic; it’s alchemy.  

Here’s the thing: God’s commandments aren’t a spreadsheet. They’re a symphony. When Paul writes, *“God loves a cheerful giver”* (2 Cor. 9:7), he’s not auditing our wallets but inviting us into a rhythm where duty and delight harmonize. The tithe isn’t a tollbooth; it’s the drumbeat guiding the dance of grace.  

### **The Vineyard and the Vault**  

Let me tell you about Thabo, a mechanic in Soshanguve. Last year, his shop burned down—a victim of SA’s rising unemployment and despair. Instead of hoarding his insurance payout, he tithed 10% to a youth skills program. *“If God feeds the sparrows,”* he told me, *“why wouldn’t He rebuild my garage?”* Six months later, a local church donated tools, and his apprentices now fix cars *and* futures. Thabo’s story isn’t prosperity gospel; it’s Proverbs 11:24-25 in overalls: *“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer.”*  

This is the scandal of joyful obedience: it turns scarcity into a seedbed. Jesus didn’t say, *“Give until it hurts.”* He said, *“Give until it heals.”* The widow’s mites (Mark 12:41-44) weren’t a math problem—they were a love song.  

### **Ubuntu and the Offering Plate**  

South Africa’s soul is a tapestry of *ubuntu* and Ephesians 4:32: *“Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.”* When KZN’s floods left thousands homeless last year, it wasn’t the government alone that responded—it was ordinary believers, their tithes funding blankets and beans. One pastor in Durban told me, *“Our church budget is 70% mercy. We don’t just preach ‘love thy neighbor’—we budget for it.”*  

This mirrors the early Church in Acts 4:32-35, where *“no one claimed private ownership.”* Modern Pharisees might call this socialism, but Jesus called it *“stewardship.”* The African Quakers in Kenya grasp this, sharing crops and cows as tithes. Here in Tshwane, we’re learning too: a local *stokvel* I joined uses 10% of its savings to feed informal settlers. It’s *ubuntu* with a spreadsheet.  

### **The Algorithm of Abundance**  

Let’s get confrontational: Why do we treat God like a vending machine? Insert tithe, receive blessings. But Malachi 3:10 isn’t a transaction—it’s a trust exercise. *“Test me,”* God says, not *“Bribe me.”* The Generosity Report 2025 found that UK Christians who tithe experience joy *“rising to 42% for Committed Christians.”* Joy, not junkets.  

I learned this when I grudgingly gave R500 to a student’s fees. Months later, she thanked me: *“Because of you, I’m the first graduate in my family.”* My rand became a resurrection. Christ’s economy is circular: our seeds feed others, their harvest feeds us, and God laughs in the surplus.  

### **The Tax Collector and the Tambourine**  

Jesus’ clash with the Pharisees (Luke 11:42) isn’t ancient history—it’s the WhatsApp group where we argue about “faith vs. works.” But what if structure and spontaneity aren’t enemies? The tithe is the rhythm section; cheerful giving is the melody.  

Take Naledi, a Soweto street vendor. She doesn’t own a calculator, but every Friday, she drops coins into a jar labeled *“For Mama Agnes’ Meds.”* *“God sees,”* she says, *“even if SARS doesn’t.”* Her obedience isn’t a burden; it’s a tambourine.  

### **Conclusion: The Feast in the Famine**  

Friends, Pretoria’s streets hum with anxiety—load-shedding, corruption, xenophobia. But in God’s vineyard, the feast isn’t postponed. When we tithe, we’re not funding a faceless entity; we’re planting mangos in hailstorms, trusting the harvest.  

The law isn’t a cage but a compass . Christ, the true tithe, didn’t grudgingly drag Himself to Calvary—He *“endured the cross for the joy set before Him”* (Heb. 12:2). Our rand, time, tears—they’re seeds in that same soil.  

So let’s dance, Akasia. The drumbeat is steady, the Vineyard Owner is generous, and the feast awaits. 

*“Give, and it will be given to you… pressed down, shaken together, running over.”* (Luke 6:38)  

*#JoyfulObedience #UbuntuInAction #TshwaneTithe*

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

**Restoring Relationships**

Last Tuesday, during Eskom’s Stage 6 load-shedding, I sat in my dimly lit Akasia living room, staring at a WhatsApp message from my cousin Thabo. Our once-close bond had fractured over a political debate—ANC vs. EFF—that spiraled into personal jabs. His text read: *“You’ve become a coconut, bra. Black on the outside, white-washed inside.”* My reply? A venomous *“At least I’m not a populist clown.”* Pride, that sly serpent, had coiled around our tongues.   But as the generator hummed and my coffee cooled, Colossians 3:13 flickered in my mind like a candle in the dark: *“Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”* Unconditional. No asterisks. No “but he started it.” Just grace.   **II. The Theology of Broken Pipes**   South Africa knows fractures. Our Vaal River, choked by sewage and neglect, mirrors relational toxicity—grievances left to fester. Yet, Christ’s forgiveness isn’t a passive drip; it’s a flash flood. To “bear with one another” (Colossians 3:13) is to choo...
Post a Comment
Read more

**Cultivating Patience**

 ## The Divine Delay: When God Hits Pause on Your Breakthrough (From My Akasia Veranda) Brothers, sisters, let me tell you, this Highveld sun beating down on my veranda in Akasia isn’t just baking the pavement. It’s baking my *impatience*. You know the feeling? You’ve prayed, you’ve declared, you’ve stomped the devil’s head (in the spirit, naturally!), yet that breakthrough? It feels like waiting for a Gautrain on a public holiday schedule – promised, but mysteriously absent. Psalm 27:14 shouts: *"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage!"* But waiting? In *this* economy? With Eskom plunging us into darkness and the price of a loaf of bread climbing faster than Table Mountain? It feels less like divine strategy and more like celestial sabotage. I get it. Just last week, stuck in the eternal queue at the Spar parking lot (seems half of Tshwane had the same pap-and-chops craving), watching my dashboard clock tick towards yet another loadshedding slot, my ow...
Post a Comment
Read more

**Rejecting Shame Through Identity in Christ**

  I live in Akasia, Tshwane, where the jacarandas paint Pretoria’s streets with purple hope each spring. From my modest home, I watch the city hum—buses rattling down Paul Kruger Street, hawkers calling out at the Wonderpark Mall, and the chatter of students spilling from TUT’s gates. Life here is vibrant, yet beneath the surface, many of us carry an unseen weight: shame. It’s a thief that whispers lies about our worth, chaining us to past mistakes or societal labels. As a Christian writer, I’ve wrestled with this shadow myself, and I’ve learned that only one truth can break its grip—our identity in Christ. Let me take you on a journey through my own story, weaving it with the tapestry of South African life and the radiant promise of Scripture, to confront shame and embrace who we are in Him. ### A Personal Tale of Shame’s Grip A few years ago, I stood at a crossroads. I’d just lost a job I loved—a writing gig at a local magazine in Pretoria. The editor said my work was “too confro...
Post a Comment
Read more