My family has not always given 10% of our gross income to the church. We have been generous with giving to the church and other organizations – far in excess of 10% – but a minimum of 10% of the gross to the church specifically has just not been what we’ve been doing. After our church’s Malachi Challenge series this spring, we went ahead and started doing that.
Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room.
(Malachi 3:10)
I don’t think that tithing is a magic bullet for financial problems. There are many blessings in being obedient, and financial gain is not necessarily one of them. And if financial gain is the motive for a person to tithe, that speaks to an inappropriate love of money (and the love of money, not the actual money, is the root of all evil) that God will not bless. The bottom line here is that we are God’s servants, and stewards to his property. We’re not the owners. Recognition of that fact means that it is no sacrifice to tithe. When I babysit someone’s child, it’s not a personal sacrifice when the parents pick the child up at the end of the night, and returning a portion of the money that God has entrusted to me to manage is not a personal sacrifice either. So now we’ve got our heads on straight as far as who owns what in this equation, and now we tithe.
I repeat – tithing is not a magic bullet for financial problems. Motive counts, and even when your motives are correct, God may bless you in other ways. Or as the infomercials say in the fine print, “Results not typical.” What results? Yes, I was getting to that. Since we started tithing, our household income has increased substantially. In a two month period, I exceeded the total of last year’s receipts for my web dev business. And last year was my best year ever. And this month will be even better, so that in a total of four months, I will have more than doubled last year’s total income for my business. I have not done any new marketing. In fact I’ve done a lot LESS marketing, because my BNI group has disbanded since Katrina. I can only attribute this amazing increase to God’s providence. I truly believe that because we’ve been obedient and trustworthy with the smaller amount, that God has trusted us with more.
Very good thoughts on tithing. I think the key is the motive. Just giving 10% of our income isn’t the issue, it is understanding that we are merely stewards of what God has given to us.
On this same issue I heard recently on CBS’s morning program that 80% of what the average American family has they don’t use. For example Americans, on average, wear only 20% of the clothes in their closets. Part of the reason we have trouble giving is because we have priority issues: we are buying things we don’t really need (or even want).
Thanks again for your thoughts.
I’m glad you stressed that tithing is no ‘magic bullet.’ I have given sacrificially for many years and I am poor. Like the truths in the Proverbs, it is generally true that such obedience brings blessing and prosperity, but obedience sometimes leads to suffering and difficulty. Paul said he knew how to have and how to have not, and that contentment in all circumstances was the key.
You may be poor for just a while longer, but your treasures in your real home will be great.
Obedience, in the long term, always leads to blessing and prosperity, but I completely agree that in the short term it can lead to pain, suffering, and even death. I think that we in America will learn that in our generation.
I’m learning to take the eternal view, but I do have a long way to go.