“And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly” Chronicles 31:5
Since becoming a Christian one of the biggest leaps of faith I found was the issue of tithing. In fact it is fair to say that before I became a Christian there was a huge chip on my shoulder about this especially as finances were tight. It just did not seem possible that I could find an additional 10% of my income for tithing. But in the way the Lord works best, he has helped us resolve this issue and after much thought we started tithing in February this year.
Each month Teresa and I sit down and work out how much we should tithe and then write the cheque, place it in the envelope and pray over it. This is us building our covenant with God and allowing to respect the Lord for allowing us to give this back to him.
Now back to my original point; should you tithe before or after tax. We have spoken to many people who tithe before tax because they believe that we should tithe our income as they did in the Old Testament. For example I have not yet found a bit of scripture that says a tithe was made of a sheep but the wool was shaved off first as this was not actually within the skin of the sheep. It always talks about the full tithe offering being made – “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.” Luke 18:22 – again notice the word ‘all’ being used in this scripture.
In the UK it is also questioned whether we should tithe government benefits such as child tax credits or income support and again I think this is down to personal opinions. To me this is still an income and one that should be accounted for.
I remember watching a program on the God channel about how to tithe correctly and they used the 10, 10, 80 rule. The first 10% of your income should be tithed, the second 10% should be put aside for a rainy day and the remaining 80% should be used for everyday living. If you use this theory then it makes sense, but the problem then revolves around the fact of whether you can survive on the 80%! This then becomes a worldly problem because you are then once again worrying about money.
After much thought we decided that we wanted to tithe before tax, we felt that an income was actually God’s money and by giving some back each month the Lord then knows that we are not money focused. Whereas if we did tithe after tax then we are actually just looking at ways to gain a little extra money and thus idolising money rather than Jesus.
I suppose ultimately tithing should be done with a happy heart and at your own discretion. We were talking about whether we should reconsider the way we tithe as others within the church tithed after tax, but how could we go back on our word to God – that is not even an option and just the Devil working against us.
When I get to those pearly gates I want to be able to say that I was over cautious with regards to tithing in order to cover every base. And I can also say that I helped my church both physically and financially to the best of my ability. I am not quite at the level that Rick warren is at and able to reverse tithe (give 90%) but what an awesome thought that would be.
What is your view on tithing?
What can I say that has not already been written or said about the revival currently taking place in Lakeland, Florida?
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