For years I knew I should tithe. But I never did. That’s when I read this from the Bible:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse–the whole nation of you–because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the store house, 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. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. -Malachi 3:8-12 NIV
During the most daring financial time in our lives, we decided to tithe. I was out of a job, and we didn’t know how we were going to get by if more than a few months passed without work. The Lord had instructed us to test him in this, and we did.
That’s about the time that the floodgates of heaven opened and poured out such a blessing we couldn’t contain it. It was amazing. Within two weeks of I had two job offers at the same time, and both offered benefits so exponentially better than the video store, I was actually frustrated that I had to make a choice! My income almost quadrupled. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not rich . . . yet.
At one point I pictured God sitting up in the heavens, smiling and finding it rather hilarious that I just couldn’t handle the blessing endowed to us.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that tithing is some kind of magical formula for increasing your income. Tithing is something that you need to do from your heart. You do it because it is the right thing to do.
We tithe 10% of our net earned income monthly. If we worked for the money, we tithe 10% of the money we obtained after taxes. Not everyone’s formula is the same, but this seemed like the most reasonable course of action. Leave us a comment to tell us what you think!
I challenge you to tithe in the midst of storms. Try it! Remember, God is allowing you to keep 90% of God’s money. It’s all God’s anyway! Because one of our helpful financial principles is to spend the money we make this month next month, our tithe is always the culmination of last month’s income. This gives us month-to-month financial peace. It is much easier to budget this way.
I am convinced that the longer you tithe, the easier it will become. Let it be a part of your relationship with Jesus. You’ll be glad you did!
Awesome accounting of God’s sovereignty! A similar thing happened to us. My wife took a severance package and was without a job. She had been looking for a couple of years prior to losing her job and NO ONE was hiring in our area.
We did two things:
1) Tithed off her severance pay and put the rest toward our mortgage.
2) Started tithing regularly at church.
Literally, within a week, she had 3 interviews and now has a job! The best blessing, however, is knowing that if we just trust God, He will never let us down. Awesome.
We still have questions regarding how much to give. Right now, we are not following your formula, but I’d be interested to know how you came up with your number.
Thanks!
Robert
Isn’t it amazing what God does when you trust? I’m always dumbfounded how God can work in our lives when we give. Amazing story. Robert, what are you asking when you say that you are interested in knowing how I came up with my number? What specifically were you referring to?
My husband and I are at a point now where we tithe on our gross salary… But when we first started, we couldn’t even tithe on our net. How amazing GOD is and the things he does when we leave everything in his hands.
And it is true that you say that the longer you tithe, the easier it becomes.. It’s such a satisfying feeling…
I thank GOD everyday for the many things he has blessed us with..
alison
Someone once told me to tithe off of my gross income, not net. I had always tithed off my take-home pay, but he said that I should give God from my firstfruits. Tithing from my net pay was allowing the government to get the firstfruits and giving God 10% of what was left. In actually, God was getting less than 10% of my actual income. I had never thought of that before, but it made sense. God is rendered 10% of your gross pay and the government is rendered what they are due. God isn’t getting the leftovers, He gets the firstfruits. I appreciated that perspective and I’ve tried to follow it ever since.
Christian, I think think that’s an awesome perspective. You’ve convicted me to rethink this in our own lives. For those of you out there who are torn between tithing off of gross or net pay, I’d ask you to pray and seek God’s will for your finances. I’ve heard arguments both ways. At this point, we’re tithing off of our net pay, but are open to consider tithing off of our gross pay. Thanks Christian!
What about tithing on monetary gifts we receive? I’ve always considered monetary gifts, well gifts until I heard my minister say that we should tithe on money we receive as gifts for like birthdays and Christmas….what are your thoughts on this? I’ve never done this because to me gifts aren’t earned income even if they happen to be money….am I wrong??? Thanks.
Hey Ronnie. We’ve never tithed on gifts because we have decided to only tithe on earned income. Some might feel compelled to tithe on gifts, and that’s fine! I’m not sure that the Bible specifically points out how we should tithe on gifts. I’d consider a tithe on gifts to be an “offering.” Others will disagree with me, but do what you feel the Lord is leading you to do!
You know. My family has always believed in tithing. I don’t get into the gross or net. I’m going to start tithing off the net and see how the Lord blesses. It’s a faith issue not financial.