First Fruit Giving not Hand Me Down Left Overs
      

It all boils down to the same kind of thinking:  those who labor in spiritual fields are merely charity cases who should be happy with whatever they get, even if they be scraps.   Your local United Way offers you no service or benefit.  That's a charity.  Your 'spiritual worker' is by your side through thick or thin and has taken the time to educate himself so he can be there in a meaningful way.   That's a benefit you receive, a service rendered to you.  You have an obligation to render to the worker his wage.

There is much more to be said on the issue and certainly there are a lot of generous people out there.  However, I wonder how the dynamic would change if many of those generous people, instead of thinking that the organization was obligated to them, because they were generous with them, understood that they were obligated to the organization.  I just wonder.

The next time you hear that your church or favorite ministry needs a new printer don't eye your old piece of crap.  Go buy them a 'first fruit' printer.    You know, one that works.  And tells them that you value what they're doing for far less than they rightly deserve.
         

http://sntjohnny.com/front/first-fruit-giving-not-hand-me-down-left-overs/1255.html