Re: Questions on the tithe

>>I read somewhere that when we go out on "the great commission" to spread the gospel, we should wear nice clothes, and look as put together and as best we can, b/c that will make a more effective presentation to people.<<

Hmmm...would you say that would include getting a face lift? Because that is the logic that some preachers use for going under the knife - "because it makes them more appealing to their audience".

You know the bible says that Jesus was not attractive at all. That there was nothing physically appealing about Him that we should desire Him.

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He hath no form nor comliness; and when we shall Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:2-3

And John the Baptist...who Jesus said was greater than any of the prophet's of old, was described in my commentary this way:

John, a man of the desert knew what it was to practice self denial.
He was a plain man in every way. He was plain of dress. He dressed simply, his raiment consisting of camel's hair. He was plain of food. Vegetable honey exuding from fig trees and palms, and edible locusts.

>>They want to see what God is doing for us to convince them. They want to see our blessings<<

It is the Word of God that convicts (convinces) someone that they need forgiveness of sin. The rest is a distraction at best, and a deception at worst. For someone to come to the Lord because they have been drawn by the promise of "blessings" will quickly fall away when they encounter suffering, persecution or loss.

Blessings,
Eileen