How Much?

An article in Forbes magazine speaks of tithing: "In the red states the face of tithing is often a pompadour on Channel 46 beseeching you to wire $1,000 to his 800 number. The money, he croons, will return to you tenfold, in divine time, perhaps as a shiny new Harley-Davidson. In the blue states the face of tithing is a Natural Resources Defense Council Hollywood-style shakedown.

"…but wait a minute. Along comes a friend—educated and rational—who is glad to tell you his experience with tithing." He says: "When you loosen your grip on possessions, you become more willing to take a chance. Entrepreneurial risk is less terrifying. Tithing requires discipline, but that discipline begins to show up unexpectedly in other areas of my life. When I began to tithe, I was able to rise earlier in the morning. I am more patient with people….

"Tithing puts you in touch with people's needs. This is an excellent habit to acquire (if you want to succeed)…. When you tithe, you begin to see your role as a steward of resources. You don't engage in wasteful spending." Concludes the Forbes columnist, "Why does tithing work? Nobody knows. Only that it does for many" (Forbes online, February 14, 2005).

The Bible, in Malachi 6:10, says, "Bring the full tithe into my house." A tithe is the giving back of 10% of what God has given us. It's a form of proportionate giving. We may begin anywhere (on average in mainline Protestantism it's about 1.5% of annual income), then increase our percentage, perhaps each year. For some, tithing is inconceivable; for others, it's the least they can do; for all of us, we can pray about it.

Our tradition of faith gives us standards to follow. This becomes legalism when we forget that the real bottom line is God's amazing grace, out of which these standards arise. Just as the Ten Commandments are prefaced with the reminder of God's deliverance from oppression (Exodus 20:1-2), so admonitions to tithe follow the promise of God's blessing (for example, Malachi 6:10).

We don't give to get blessed. We give because we are blessed. The standard of tithing and proportionate giving helps us live into the good life God intends for us.

What we can't do now, we can pray about… confident that "God is able to give us more than we need, so that we will always have all we need for ourselves and more than enough for every good cause" (2 Corinthians 9:8).