Today my family "tithes" on what we give--not out of legalistic necessity but to remind ourselves that we should give to Jesus at the time of year we remember His birth. We add up what we spend and give a special offering of roughly 10 percent of the total cost of our gifts.

Some years we've taken gifts down to a homeless shelter in our area. One year I went there dressed as Santa Claus and, after telling them the story of the real meaning of Christmas, I distributed the gifts to some neighborhood children as well as to some toothless homeless men.

Other years we've given to a national ministry we felt was doing a good work. Operation Holiday Hope, sponsored by Bill Wilson in New York City, is one example. 

Most years we remember the men at a Teen Challenge training center nearby who can't go home for Christmas. We give them some small gifts to let them know they are remembered.

In all of this, the point I make to my own two sons and my staff is that at Christmas we go out of our way to give to others less fortunate than ourselves.

As we join together to help others less fortunate, we minister to the Lord who said, "'Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me'" (Matt. 25:40).

This article is from the December 2002 issue of Charisma