Tithing and Offerings are a very important part in the life of a Christian. A tithe is 10% of your monthly (or weekly) income. Everything we have comes from God. We are just stewards of God’s abundance on earth. God doesn’t need our money. He wants us to trust him and be faithful in giving back a portion of what He has given us, which is 10%. An offering is in addition to tithing.
My mom taught me the value of tithing at a young age. When I started my first job at age 16, I started my 10% tithe with my first paycheck. My husband and I have been married for over 40 years and have tithed faithfully. The Lord has blessed us many times over, and we have never been in any financial need. We had a mortgage on our first home, but after that, as we moved elsewhere, we built our own homes and never had another mortgage. Other than my first car prior to our marriage, we never had a monthly car payment. My husband, being a mechanic, bought used cars, payed cash for them and took good care of them.
About five years in to our marriage, my husband developed leukemia. The short story version is that after two years of radiation and chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, he was cured. We had two small children and I was the only one working at that time. I happened to work at Emory Clinic, a division of Emory Hospital where my husband had been hospitalized. Our insurance paid most of it, but we had a $800 balance (which seemed like a lot of money at the time). When I got the bill, I called the hospital billing office to set up payments. I was told that an anonymous person paid our balance! What a blessing! God is true to His promises. We had faithfully tithed and He blessed us greatly! This is just one example of the many blessing that God has bestowed on us.
Now we are retired and on fixed income for the most part. We happily tithe at the first of each month and give additional offerings to as often as we can. We have never worried about paying our monthly expenses.
One more example of the blessings of tithing. My son has given me permission to share this story. His family has recently suffered some financial setbacks (and his wife is getting off from work due to the business closing). He is also faithful in tithes and offerings. He put a freeze on all spending for the family and are only going to buy the necessities. Our Pastor had preached from Malachi 3:10 (passage bel0w) and my son prayed that God would show him what He meant by testing Him.
My son selected some bills that were expendable in order to save money. He has ADT security system and called to cancel his service. They told him that since he was such a good customer that they reduced is bill by 75% for the next six months. Next, my son called AT&T and said he was going to look for another carrier in hopes of finding better rates (which is high because he and his wife and two of his older children have I-Phones). AT&T found him a better plan and reduced his monthly bill by 30%. My son went on to say that tithing did not make mathematical sense to him, God always stands true to His word. My son gives praise to God for his blessings!
God’s plan for tithing works! Everything belongs to God. He doesn’t need our money. He wants us to be faithful to Him and trust in Him. He wants us to be good stewards. See passage below (Matthew 25:14-30). The more you give back to God, with more he will entrust you!
Below are biblical references stating God’s blessings to those who are obedient in tithing.
“”Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, so there will be enough food in My Temple. “If you do”, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great that you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try It! Put Me to the test!”” Malachi 3:10 (NLT)
“”The Lord told Moses, “Give the instructions to the Levites: When you receive from the people of Israel the tithes I have assigned as your allotment give a tenth of the tithes you receive – a tithe of a tithe – to the Lord as a sacrificed offering…… Be sure you give to the Lord the best portions of the gifts given to you.” Numbers 18: 25-26, 29 (NLT)
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best of everything you produce. Then He will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10 (NLT)
Jesus told a parable of the Three Servants (Matthew 25:14-30 NLT) In summary, an employer was going away on a trip. He entrusted money to three servants until he returned. He gave 5 bags of silver to one, to bags of silver to another and 1 bag of silver to the third servant. When the employer returned from is journey, the first servant doubled his investment fro 5 bags to 10 bags of silver. The second servant also doubled his investment of 2 bags to 4 bags of silver. The third servant buried his one bag of silver and made no investment.
To the first and second servant the employer said “Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together.” (Matthew 25: 21,23 NLT)
“Then he (the employer) ordered, ” Take the money from this servant (who buried his bag of silver), and give it to the one with the 10 bags of silver. TO those who use well that they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from the who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. (Matthew 25:28-29, NLT)