I’m ashamed to admit this.
When
my husband and I were married in the fall of 1976, and I moved into his
apartment near the university where he was a student, I brought an $800 credit
card debt with me. According to an online calculator, $800 in 1976 would be
almost $3400 today. Among other
character flaws, my credit card debt was a reflection of undisciplined spending
habits.
My husband
wisely assumed responsibility for our finances. He closed that credit card
account after paying it off and established a budget that kept us from spending
more than we had coming in – a practice we continued after he graduated from
college and our family and income grew.
Though
we kept our spending under control for most of the first ten years of our
marriage, we never considered including charitable giving in our budget. Neither
of us was raised in homes where tithing was a priority, and we didn’t attend a
church that emphasized tithing as a spiritual discipline. Our giving practices
consisted of placing whatever discretionary money we might have in our wallets
at the time into the offering plate as it was passed.
Eight
years into our marriage, our budget and standard of living reflected our above
average combined incomes, but shortly after the birth of our son Casey and buying
a new home, we decided that I should resign from my position as a nursing administrator
(with a salary greater than my husband’s and benefits that included a car) to
stay home fulltime with our 3 boys – a decision that required drastic changes
in our living and spending habits.
A
few weeks later, we were still adjusting to living on less-than-half our
previous income when we were convicted about our nearly negligible giving
habits. Convinced that tithing was a matter of trust and obedience, we prayerfully
decided that in addition to the other changes we were making in our living
standards and spending practices, we would begin tithing our gross, before
taxes and deductions, income.
Over
thirty year later, it’s a decision my husband never failed
to doubt or honor – even when it wasn't easy and often looked impossible, if not foolish, on paper.
What We Learned From That Decision
to Tithe
Tithing acknowledges that we are
stewards, not owners, of whatever God has entrusted to our keeping (Deuteronomy 10:14). God owns it all. Tithing whatever we
have been trusted to steward demonstrates that we are just conduits
of giving a small portion of all that belongs to God.
Stewardship requires
accountability
(Matthew 25:14-30). We are accountable to God for how we use whatever He has
given us. It has motivated us to live frugally, creating margins in our budget
that we can not only tithe but be able to give beyond the local church to various
charitable organizations and to meet the needs of others as we are led.
Because of that accountability, tithing has caused us to be more thoughtful
members of the church. We have intentionally covenanted with a church we believe
will use the tithes and offerings of its members for Kingdom goals to the glory
of God – knowing that they, too, will be accountable.
Tithing has been a refining discipline that has consistently brought impurities in our hearts to the surface – revealing our bent toward coveting and selfness as we learned to be content (Philippians 4:11).
Tithing has been a matter of
obedience –
not because God needs our money, but because He loves us and wants us to trust
in His Sovereignty and His perfect design and will for our lives – knowing that
it will teach us more about His character, prove His faithfulness and increase
our trust in His provisions.
Tithing may have been birthed
out of a sense of duty, but it grew to be a joy and a privilege. “Each one must give as he
has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a
cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV) Tithing has been a catalyst to becoming
cheerful givers.
This post is part of The High Calling’s Share Your Story: Tithing Community Link-Up
Perhaps the tithe can be a beginning way to acknowledge God as the owner of all things, but it is only a beginning and not an ending.Do you have a tithing story you can share in comments here, or at The High Calling Share Your Story post linked below?
Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
This post is part of The High Calling’s Share Your Story: Tithing Community Link-Up
