A lot of what I’ve written about tithing comes from conversations I had with my friend, Julia. A few years ago, in one of our online chats, Julia wrote, “in the many business books (mostly American) authors write that it is necessary to pay first 10% of income to God. Why do you think they write about this? In our country it is unpopular thing, Only on big holidays when people attend churches they pay some of money for supporting of the church.”
After answering her questions about tithing, Julia decided to start giving part of her income to God, but she felt that she could not afford to give 10% when money was already very tight. I tried to persuade her not to give less than 10%, but she decided to start by giving less at first, and gradually giving more when she felt better able to afford it. As an accountant, she felt that this made the most sense for her situation.
That decision was a disaster for her.
That month, after giving less than the full tithe of 10% of her income, she lost a client that she could not afford to lose. Then, just one hour before they were scheduled to meet with her to sign contracts for ongoing services, two other potential clients decided to sign with competing firms instead. On top of that, some of her furniture broke unexpectedly and needed expensive repairs.
She responded to me by writing, “10% thing is a very dangerous game.”
She’s right. Unfortunately, it was something she learned the hard way. When she gave less than 10% of her income, God was not able to rebuke the Devourer on her behalf (Malachi 3:11). The Devourer was then free to wreak havoc on her finances.
You may think that you cannot afford to give the full 10% of your income to God, but the truth is that you cannot afford NOT to give 10%. What Julia did not realize was that if she had given the full 10% as her tithe to God, God would have opened the windows of heaven to make sure that her financial needs were met (Malachi 3:10). As it was, giving less than 10%, it was going to take her a long time to recover from the losses she experienced … if she could ever fully recover.
God is always just and right in what He does. How would the government respond if you tried to tell them that you couldn’t afford to pay your taxes? You would face legal consequences. It is the same with God because God is a much, much higher power than your government.
God makes the rules. We don’t. If we want to be blessed by God, we must do things His way. Otherwise, we can bring destructive consequences on ourselves, our families, and our nation.
“There you must bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your crops and animals, your special gifts, any gifts you promised to him, any special gift you want to give, and the first animals born in your herds and flocks. You and your families will eat together at that place, and the Lord your God will be there with you. You will enjoy sharing the things you worked for there. You will remember that the Lord your God blessed you and gave you these good things. You must not continue to worship the way we have been worshiping. Until now each of us has been worshiping God any way we wanted.”—Deuteronomy 12:6-8 (ERV)
Tithing Requires Risk
There are many crutches and props that we tend to lean on rather than placing our full trust in God. Money is one of the main crutches that we tend to lean on. God wants us to learn that if we will lean on Him and trust Him to provide all of our needs, we will be able to walk through life free of any desperate reliance on all of the crutches and props that other people lean on and place their trust in.
Props and crutches fail. Jobs can be lost. Sources of income can dry up. Vast sums of money can be lost through thefts, bad decisions, or unfortunate circumstances. Money is not worthy of our trust.
“Wealth can vanish in the wink of an eye. It seems to grow wings and fly away like an eagle in the sky.”—Proverbs 23:5 (ICB)
God knows that you cannot serve Him and serve money at the same time. You must choose.
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand devotedly by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon [that is, your earthly possessions or anything else you trust in and rely on instead of God].”—Luke 16:13 (AMP)
When Jesus observed the poor widow putting all of her money into the offering for God, He praised her. He wasn’t worried about her future. He didn’t caution her not to do that because of the risk she was taking. He seemed confident that she would be taken care of by God as a result of her generosity (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4).
The same will be true of us if we commit to give God the first 10% of all of our income. God will prove that He is able to faithfully supply all of our needs.
If we do not voluntarily choose now to take the risk and place our trust in God rather than in money, eventually we may be forced to make that choice. In the final years of this age, no one will be allowed to buy or sell without accepting the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16-17). If you have already learned to trust God to provide all of your needs, refusing that mark will be an easy choice. You will have already made your choice and proven God to be faithful. For others, who cannot overcome their dependence on money, it may cost them their souls (Revelation 14:9-11).