Tithing

I’m no theologian, but I wanted to share my experience with tithing and what it has done in my life. I believe tithing as a Christian is one of those non-negotiable acts of obedience. We aren’t perfect but we should strive to be obedient in all things and tithing is not merely a suggestion but a command (Genesis 28, Matthew 23).

To begin with, tithing is giving the first tenth (or 10%) of what you make to the Lord. The premise here is that all wealth and resources belong to God anyway and we honor Him by returning back to Him the first tenth of all we are given.

Tithing is not the same as an offering. I don’t even believe tithing makes you a generous person. Giving a tenth back to the Lord makes you an obedient person.

The Bible says the Lord loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9). And I believe we should give cheerfully to God, especially in our offerings. But I believe we should tithe whether cheerfully or fearfully because it’s not a suggestion, it’s what we are called to do.

Malachi chapter 3 goes into detail about how we cannot rob God of what belongs to Him, but it also reminds us of the abundance of blessing that will come upon us when we bring Him our tithe.

I grew up understanding tithing but sadly didn’t implement this until my life until some ways into adulthood. Actually, I began tithing during a period when my first husband and I were in very tight financial hardship. I remember being absolutely at the end of my own wisdom in dealing with our issues. When praying I was led to thinking about tithing and I watched a few trusted pastors preach about it. I felt convicted; conviction by the Holy Spirit is not only correction, but it comes with hope. I believed if I could trust the Lord with my finances He would help me.

The first thing I gained was peace. I stopped worrying about money. Then I began noticing funny little things, miracles, like I didn’t run out of shampoo or laundry soap for ages. It’s like my bottles hung out at half empty for months. Money remained tight but somehow beyond my comprehension we began being better able to control expenses. And then eventually we were delivered from our hardship, and we ended up in a place of abundance again. Praise the Lord.

I didn’t give cheerfully those first weeks. I gave fearfully. But God accepted my obedience even in my fear. I like to share my testimony about tithing to help others perhaps take that step in obedience to God. Me tithing does not make me a good person, or generous or anyone’s superior. It just makes me humbly obedient to God.

God is faithful to reward our obedience in this and every other way. He knows our stumbling blocks but He sees our heart. When our heart seeks Him, and we seek to be obedient, we are helped. And we are rewarded. Often it begins by God changing us. Teaching us to bear our circumstances.

But when it comes to tithing we have a special promise in Malachi: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough  for it.”

He says “test me in this” and that is literally what I did. When I first started I was scared and I said “I’m afraid and I don’t know what is going to happen but I’m trusting your promise that if I do this you will bless me.”

God is more faithful than we could ever be. If we seek to obey Him and honor Him in our hearts, with obedience, and in our tithe, He will fulfill His promises to us. As the song says:

And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

Furthermore I believe that if we choose not to tithe, God will take from us what should have been His. We will see it leave our accounts in payments for repairs, loss of wages, etc etc. Furthermore I believe like any lack of obedience it opens your life to trouble, strife, unnecessary difficulty. Obedience to God brings peace and protection.

The Bible says to give of our “first fruits” so I tithe on my gross salary when I am paid. Because I am a salaried employee this is usually easy. But if I receive bonuses or some other income I tithe that also. And I do not account this as my offerings – which are different, those are the above and beyond gifts we give as we are led. And I believe especially as those are Spirit led those should be done secretly and joyfully as a thank you for the love and abundance of our God. They go beyond obedience into the state of our heart.

I encourage anyone who has not committed to tithing to begin to do so. Whether you are rich or especially if you are not, trust God and obey Him and learn in your own life and in your own family how incredibly good and faithful our God is.