Thrifty Thursday ~ Tithe

In the last two weeks we've completed our budget and started tracking our variable expenses. How did you do with the tithe portion of the budget? Did you leave it blank to see what you would have left over after all of your "real" expenses? Or, did you take 10% of your income and promptly fill in the numbers? Let's cover some basic truths about money:

1. Our money is not our own, it all belongs to God.
Haggai 2:8 'The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,' declares the LORD of hosts.

2. Tithe should be the FIRST payment we make after we get any income. It should be 10% of your income paid to your local church. This is why it is listed as the first expense on my budget.

Proverbs 3:9-10 Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Genesis 28:22 All that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.

3. If you do not tithe you are robbing God. If you do tithe you will receive blessings. Now, this is tricky because we don't give to get. However, there are blessing for those who choose to obey His laws!

Malachi 3:8-10Will a man rob God Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You ' In tithes and offerings. "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

4. God will provide! After looking at your budget you may think it's impossible to tithe. You need to make it your number one financial change. I'm not going to say that it will be easy. At times it's been very difficult for our family. However, He will not forsake you!

Psalm 37:25 I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.

2 Corinthians 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything; you may have an abundance for every good deed.

This has been a difficult post for me because I struggled with this for many years. The love of numbers and planning can be a toxic combination if God is not your FIRST priority. Our spiritual and financial lives are intertwined. It is a command to tithe and if we don't obey there are consequences. I know from experience that it will limit you in so many areas and there is great freedom in obedience.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.