Finance Fridays: God wants your time and your tithes
One of the challenges I faced when I first became a Christian was figuring out how to handle tithing. It was easy at first, because I wasn’t making very much money, so 10% of a small amount is an even smaller amount. It’s when my income started to grow that the problem came. I was looking at a larger number, and was selfishly thinking of so many other things I could do with that money.
My pastor showed me, however, that I was looking at that money the wrong way. I was looking at it as if I was giving God 10% of my money when really it was God who was giving me 90% of a portion that was really His money. When considered from that perspective, it shows me that I’ve been receiving a greater portion from God all along. It was not my money. It was His and giving back was supposed to be a demonstration of my faith and my responsibility to my church, which just like my own home had expenses that were a necessary part of operation. Light and gas bills must get paid, there should be a portion available to help those in need, and of course, the church is supposed to be able to sustain the pastor and his family, since he’d sacrificed his time to lead and instruct the church. There’s a concrete reason why God said, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10 (KJV)
The first part of this verse in Malachi explains the practical reasons for tithing, to support the operations of the church – which is fair and reasonable, the bills are NOT going to pay themselves and that really is enough reason. It’s the second part of this verse, however, that’s so interesting and so demonstrative of God’s love. It’s a promise, that if we faithfully pay our tithes, God will “pour out a blessing” – not just any blessing, but one that there will not be room enough to receive. In other words, God plans to reward those who trust Him enough to part with what they think is their money. That made sense to me – and on a spiritual level, I was totally satisfied with that because I have experienced blessings that had seemingly fallen out of heaven.
But, (and there’s always a but isn’t there?) as time passed, I would let my logic undermine what my heart and spirit held true. It happened most often when an issue would cause me to miss paying my tithes for a particular pay period. I generally made a point to write a check for my tithes a few days before payday, so that that would be the first thing to come out, but there were times, when that didn’t work out so well. Those were times when I’d begin attempt to justify myself by saying, well God can do anything, He doesn’t need my money, there are other ways I can demonstrate my faith. Certainly, He doesn’t need money, but the church and the people it supports do – and I’m supposed to do my part, right?
Then came the guilt-trip because I’d failed to do my part. I should have done better. When this emotion crept in my spirit, I should have known there was a problem with my level of thinking. To complicate matters, I found this scripture in the New Testament that seemed support my justification that there’s more to faith than paying tithes:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23)
Upon quick examination, it seemed that this scripture was reducing the importance of tithing . It seemed Jesus was saying to the hypocrites, “so what you pay your tithes, what about treating others fairly, having mercy, and demonstrating your faith in other ways?” It let me know that yes, I’m supposed to be tithing, but that shouldn’t be the extent of my commitment to my church or God. These days, if a person can part with their money, yes that is a demonstration of faith, but what about their behavior? What about giving God their time? Some people pay their tithes out of guilt thinking that the more they pay, the more they are justified.
Of course, that’s not so, God can’t be bought off. Besides, He’s already given us the gift of forgiveness that comes when we accept Christ; when we humble ourselves and begin to trust Him with our lives.
We must remember, that yes, we must pay our tithes as a part of our responsibility, but tithing is not all God requires us to do. I came to realize that I should be a better financial manager and make sure I do my part, but God also wants my heart and demonstrations that I trust Him and believe in His promises. One without the other is not adequate.
If I want God to continue to bless my life as abundantly as He has been, then I ought to be diligent in doing what He has asked of me. I’ve had moments in my life that felt like everything I did and every bit I earned fell from the holes in my pockets as described in this scripture in Haggai:
“Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” Haggai 1:5-6
I don’t ever want to go there again, instead, I want to ensure that my ways are in line with what God wants of me, which means I better get my finances – I’m sorry…His finances in order and make sure I’m giving both my tithes and my time back to Him.
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Kiesha holds a Master of Arts in English, is a writing instructor and blog consultant.
Oh that’s really a great article on tithing. Truly love it!
I preached a sermon 2 sundays ago titled: “Launch out into financial prosperity” using that same text from Malachi. Did a recording of it and expecting one day to post it on youtube. I’ve found tithing to be our simple way of declaring that God is the rightful owner of all that we have. If we’ll truly live with this in mind then there can never be any lack for God will ensure that the heavens are always opened to release His blessings on us.
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Loved the article. Like you, tithing is always something I struggled with. For awhile I used the automatic withdrawals as a method to make sure I paid my tithe on a regular basis because as you say the bills have to paid. While that was a good way to make sure tithing got done, I felt detached from the act. I no longer thought about tithing and to me that lessened the importance of the act (from a spiritual perspective). So I’m back writing the check every pay period. Sometimes it slips through the crack especially on those months when the little unexpected expenses creep up on you. I guess in the end its one of those things we have to be vigilant and prayerful about.
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I happened to see your article when I was doing a little research on tithing. On was deeply concerned that you are not talking about biblical tithing at all, but something made up by man. Tithing was given as a law by the Lord to the Israelites. It consisted of food (crops and herds) was was paid 6 years with a seventh year free (sabbath year). Tithing was not mandated for gentiles and certainly not for those in the church, who were encouraged to give generously as the Lord leads (2 Corinthians 8 – 9). It never applied when Israel did not live in the promised land. There are two free will examples of giving one tenth (Abram and Jacob) and Abram did not give a tithe on his own income but on spoils recovered when setting free Lot (Heb 7 v 4).
When Jesus spoke about tithing he was speaking with fellow Jews who were still under the law at that time (before Jesus died on the cross) and he said it was a matter of the law (Matthew 23 v 23). Christians are not obligated to tithe, but they are encouraged to give generously to those in need, as well as take care of their own families (1 Tim 5 v
and to help those who minister to others.
I would encourage all to be true Bereans and study the scriptures for yourselves on this, rather than accepting the words of others who have a vested interest in teaching this erroneous message. PS This is not a recipe for being ungenerous and mean with our finances. However there is much freedom in listening to the Lord for his leading, as children of His.
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