tithe Archives - Live Debt Free

My Testimony to the Tithe

01.25.2012 by Matt Jabs //

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10

God’s promises

Those are strong promises the Lord gives us if only we are obedient to His commandment to tithe to His church. Please join me today in the sharing of my testimony to the faithfulness of God’s Word regarding these promises made.

In 1999 I bent the knee of my will to the Lord Jesus Christ and was born again!

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 – Jesus to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the Jews.

Thanks be to God for His mercy, grace, long suffering and especially His death on the cross for my sin. Since 1999 I have been walking this earth as an alien no longer feeling at home in this world, but longing to be home with my Lord in heaven. My purpose on this earth is now solely to yield my body a vessel of honor to the Lord for the work of His church.

Part of my duty as a Christian is to give of my first fruits back to the Lord’s church in the form of a tithe. That is, I am to give 10% of my earnings to the church in obedience to God’s Word. First fruits meaning we are to give 10% of our gross income, not net income. This tithing by God’s people is one of the ways the Lord funds his ministry here on earth. Does the Lord need our money? No, He can do anything He wishes any time He wishes, however the tithing of His people is the system He chose to implement and work through, so as Christians we need to faithfully give in this manner.

Have I tithed faithfully since my salvation in 1999? No, regrettably I have not. At times I have been a faithful giver, and at other times have been disobedient to my Lord and withheld my tithe for one reason or another. Today I want to give my readers a journal entry of my experience of both giving in obedience, and not giving in disobedience.

Looking back over the 9 years of my Christian life I can now see that the times of my greatest financially stability, regardless of how much money I was bringing in, were in direct correlation to when I was giving of my tithe to my local new testament church. Likewise, the times when I seem to have struggled financially were always in the midst of a titheless period in my life. Though I have always known I should tithe, the Lord has just recently revealed the utter and imminent importance of these things to me in all clarity of mind. I began faithfully tithing again at the first of this year (January 2009) and intend to never go another month of my life without giving to the Lord in this respect. Over these last two months I have been witness to Gods direct financial intervention in my life. To me it is both a blessing and a miracle. Before tithing I always seemed to be living paycheck to paycheck (sound familiar?), seemed to be slowly getting into more credit card debt, all while being unable to save much of anything. Why was this happening? My wife & I don’t have any kids. We don’t buy new cars. We don’t buy expensive toys. We don’t blow a lot of our money on frivolous purchases…so why was this happening to us?

In the Old Testament, when God’s people were not obedient in the giving of their tithe, one way or another He always seemed to part them with the money they were withholding from Him. In my life, while disobedient, it always seemed like random things were happening that would consume any extra money I had left over leaving me wanting again until my next paycheck. Now that the Lord has granted me repentance and has again turned me toward Him these things have changed drastically. Before tithing I would pay my bills on the last possible day they were due, sometimes even having to pay late fees, simply because I had to wait for my next check to be deposited before I could pay the bill. Now that I have been tithing, I am able to pay all my bills the day I get them in the mail. To summarize, let me give you some of my financial drawbacks I experienced before tithing, and what I am realizing now that I’m giving faithfully.

Before I was giving my tithe:

I was living paycheck to paycheck
I waited until the due date of my bills before I paid them
Every single month I seemed to incur random expenses that consumed all my extra money and even pushed me more into debt
Always broke even on my tax return or owed money to the government
Bank fees: be they credit card over the limit, over-drawn checking account, late payments fees…you name it I paid it
A guilty conscience
A heavy heart

Now that I’m tithing, though no increase in salary this has been my experience:

I’m able to save at least $200 every month
I pay every bill the day it comes in the mail
Random expenses have not been a part of my life for the last few months
For the first time since we filed taxes Married Filing Jointly, my wife & I are receiving a sizable return of over $1,200
No more bank fees
A clear conscience and a happy countenance
A peace that passes all understanding – Philippians 4:7

Please believe that the things listed above are just the tip of the iceberg. My obedience to God in my tithe opens the door to other areas of obedience and therefore more blessings of a peaceful spirit and fellowship with my God!

If you are a Christian, I strongly urge you to consider my experience and use it to transform your view upon Christ, His Church, and your tithe. Please give joyfully and liberally and experience the blessings of the Lord! He is challenging you today to prove Him now, how will you respond? If you are not born again, please consider Christ and His death on the cross for your sin. Look to Him and live.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Romans 5:6-11

What is your giving testimony?

Share your experience with giving in the comments below. God bless.

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Tithing Our Time?

11.03.2009 by Matt Jabs //

This is a guest post from Mr. NotTheJetSet

He’s a spender, she’s a saver. Together, they’re Not the Jet Set.

Fed up with working too hard to not have any money, we made the decision to take control of our finances. We began a mission to get out of debt and stay out of debt – forever. On June 23rd of 2006, we completed Baby Step 2 by paying off approx $40,000 in 20 months. During that time and ever since then, we’ve seen it as part of our calling to help others achieve what we have – financial peace.

Tithing our Time

Years ago, while living in Texas, the Mrs. and I belonged to a church that was ‘stewardship based’. At it’s core this meant that there was no fund raising activities to benefit the parish – bake sales, catered dinners, bingo night, none of it. The intent was that all funding was to come from stewardship – tithing, free-will donations, and Sunday offerings. Many felt that it was not possible to run a parish of this size this way, but it was our priest’s insistence that would win folks over. He often said, “As a stewardship parish, we’ll never have a money problem – only a faith problem”. A powerful statement meaning that if our income wasn’t paying the bills, then lack of money wasn’t the problem, but rather the lack of faith driving us to give. It was great to be a part of, and also amazing to see the affect that our FPU classes had on the weekly numbers as more families were giving and more were able to at least work towards a tithe.

Ever since then, we’ve been big believers in stewardship as it applies to not only our treasure, but our time and talents as well.

In terms of treasure – We tithe and try to give on top of that when we are able.
In terms of talents – We facilitate FPU classes and council families needing additional help.
In terms of time – Well, I guess this is where we feel we have been falling short.

*Matt’s Note: The 4th area of stewardship is our health.

So how do we give our time?

Sure, one could argue that the 2 hr+ FPU classes and their prep work would fall into that. But are we then just ‘double dipping’? Seems like we can do more for the Lord. Of course we go to church every Sunday, but that’s just the minimum – we used to do so much more.

Then we got a bit of a wake-up call. Our Priest’s sermon recounted a Bible verse about listening to the Lord, and then gave the modern interpretation of it – interrupted with cell phone calls, pager buzzing, text messages… Our time with the Lord has been invaded and a common culprit of that is technology. Later that day, we were with a group of friends who were talking about the same thing and how they simply had to stop the way they were going and re-prioritize their life. We knew we had to do the same.

So the Mrs. did the math and approached me about this concept of ‘tithing our time’. If we truly gave a tenth (a tithe) of our time to the Lord, that would amount to 16.8 hrs per week. A great goal, but pretty intimidating – I mean, that’s 2 work days. As our priest in Texas would tell people wanting to tithe on their income, but fearful about being able to commit to the full 10%, he would say to start with something – even just 1%, start with just $10, start giving something!

So that’s what we are doing. We are starting with something.

Here is what we are doing…

We have both enrolled in an adult Bible study class through the parish. This class lasts about 2 hrs once per week, plus has homework each week.
We are giving a part of each day. In the spirit of starting with something, we are giving 30 minutes each day to the Lord – be it Bible study homework, quiet contemplation, prayer or something else.

With these, in addition to Sunday Mass and FPU classes, we are each giving 8 hrs per week to God. Not bad! That’s nearly 50% of the goal of 16.8 hours.

In the spirit of giving, we also looked at our own house. As the Bible says, “he who does not take care of his own household is worse than a non-believer”. Here we are giving so much of ourselves outward, and yet the living room is a wreck, the dishes are stacked up by the sink, the office/sewing room is a horrible catch all and barely usable, and the basement has yet to fully recover from the house projects of a year ago. So the Mrs came up with a plan for the whole family to give 30 minutes each night to cleaning the house. Focused, intense effort wherever it is needed most. We were able to try it out for a few days last week and the results were amazing. Three and a half people (the little one doesn’t help that much at under 2 years old) cleaning the same space for 30 minutes has resulted in very clean and presentable spaces each time. In fact, it was the spark we needed to start getting the office/sewing room under control.

So I’m interested to find out how YOU give?

A Proper Attitude Toward Giving

05.22.2009 by Matt Jabs //

With this post my aim is to shed light on how & why you should give what you give.

“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” – Albert Einstein

“You give before you get. There would be no advantage to be gained by sowing a field of wheat if the harvest did not return more than was sown.” – Napoleon Hill

“For of those to whom much is given, much is required.” – John F. Kennedy

If you are at all concerned about your community, your finances, your church, your country, your favorite charities, or your example to your children, proper giving should be a concept with which you are thoroughly familiar.

Today I would like to address the role our attitude plays in our giving, and how it can truly make or break what we give!

A Problematic View Toward Giving

Giving your “last fruits” – Meaning giving is one of your last financial priorities. This is a very common pitfall and one that I fell victim to for years! The premise here, whether purposeful or involuntary, is that giving will commence once all other financial matters are in order. I contend that giving should be your first financial priority, before debt repayment, savings, or anything else.
Giving “amounts that don’t matter” – There exists a common misconception that amounts given are in direct correlation with the meaningfulness of the gift. If you hold this view you are severely short-changing yourself. No pun intended. I would like to bring to remembrance the fact that the percentage you give is far more important than the amount you give!
Giving is “obligatory or even burdensome” – Whether you are currently giving or aspiring to give you need to give with joy. Gloomy givers are ungrateful givers and are missing out on the joy that giving is meant to bring! To those gloomy givers I say this: if someone gave you a gift, but was noticeably unhappy about giving it, how would you feel? Many others still, may be indifferent about their giving. While they may not view their giving as a burden, they still have an unfortunate and inappropriate view toward the fundamental purpose of giving.

A Proper View Toward Giving

Firstly let us look to scripture for wisdom & encouragement from God in an effort to overcome the aforementioned problematic views.

1. Give your “first fruits” – Though giving of “first fruits” was an Old Testament commandment to Jews, as Christians we need to be mindful that all things belong to God. What better way for us to thank Him than to offer the first of what He blesses us with back to Him. He promises to bless us in such a bountiful way that we will not be able to receive it! Giving first may not make “sense” to some people, but I believe it is an issue of faith, meaning there is no good explanation other than just having faith in what God promised.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 3:10-11

1. Giving “any amount always matters” – It is not the amount you give that holds meaning, but the percentage you give and the spirit with which you give it.

“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” Mark 12:41-44

1. Give “cheerfully” – Giving without joy is detrimental to he who gives.

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

Final Thoughts

Giving is not a burden, quite contrarily it is a glorious blessing! To be able to give to someone else, especially if you are filling a need, is a joyful gift that no amount of money can reproduce.

Make giving your first financial priority, above debt repayment, saving, and investing.
Give sacrificially
Give with joy

Consider the old quote, “The gift of giving”. The word gift is not referring to the recipient, but to he who has given!

DFA is passionately dedicated to helping others break the bondage of debt using biblical principles.