However, for those of you that believe in the Bible and try to truly live your life according to The Word of God tithing may be a bit of a struggle for you, especially when money is tight.
There is a big argument on each side of the fence here and I am in no way a means of authority on this, I am only here to offer my humble opinion.
I firmly believe that God has asked us to give back. I believe that more importantly than giving 10% is giving with a joyful heart and it should be enough of a sacrifice that it hurts.
By this I mean that if I give you $10 in my pocket when I have $500 to spare, is it really a sacrifice? Am I giving all I can and truly feeling like I am putting my faith in Him? I am not saying that you need to give every penny you have and trust that God will feed your family and pay your mortgage, but I do believe that God wants to see you actually take a step out in faith.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
6The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Luke 21:1-4 (Words of Jesus in red)
1He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3He said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on."
It is a real challenge for me each time I write out our budget and I see that 10% come right off the top...that money could really be put to some good use somewhere down the line. But, I can tell you first hand that whenever I have gotten greedy with my money, I have not been given or rewarded much in that month. In the months that we have had complete faith and given all that we could, God has truly rewarded our efforts.
It is very important for us to pay God (the church, charities,etc) before we pay ourselves. It has been way too easy in the past to say that we will pay God X amount at the end of the month, because usually that X amount was spent on something else.
Now if you are behind on your payments I believe it is a little different.
I personally believe if you are behind on any of your bills that it is your obligation to pay that back before you spend any anything, including tithes. Once you are current on your payments I believe that you should then begin tithing.
Psalm 37:2121 The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;
What are your thoughts on tithing? Has God blessed you when you were faithful with your money, even though times were tough?
4 comments:
I completely believe that if you pay tithes, God blesses you ten times what you gave (although not always in money form). I have a lot of personal experience with it. Complete believer!
Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog today. Good luck on your quest to being debt free! It will be so worth it, right?
Thanks Kelli! You are right on about God's blessings not always being in money form!
Think of all He gives us..For those of us who are believer's; He could have requested 90% and we keep 10%.It is all HIS money.....One would say....what?..I worked for that money......Sure, but it is He who gave you the gift you have to work, and the favor to have gotten the job..Bottom line..It all belong's to Him...So yes, I believe when you tithe,...your 'well' never runs dry~ fleur~
I couldn't agree more Fleur!!
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