“Paid in full.”

The big, red letters shouted at me from the top of the letter I held in my hands. It was a letter from the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), the modern-day tax collector of America.

I had no idea how it could have been paid in full when I owed more than US$2,000 in taxes to the IRS. I was living and working in New York at the time.

I got into this debt because of a little entrepreneurial venture with my roommate which actually lost us both money.

For someone taking home just over US$2,000 a month – this barely covered rent and the necessities of life – that US$2,000 debt to the US government burnt a hole in my pocket and my heart.

Trying to duke it out with the bureaucracy of the IRS took me nowhere. Praying for help did not occur to me at that time. I was relying on my wits, which were depleted by then, and on my contacts, none of whom had the power to help.

I told no one about my financial woes. But one Sunday, during a sermon at church, God spoke as clearly as if He were right next to me, pouring out His heart:

“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”  (Haggai 1:4-9) 

For reasons I still cannot explain, my heart broke.

That evening, I went home and wrote a cheque for 10% of my income to the church, the house of God that was lying in ruins.

Finance 101 as taught by God

Prior to that Sunday, I had never tithed. In fact, I had always struggled with finances.

The word “tithe” comes from the Hebrew word עשר which means “ten”. In the Old Testament, tithing or giving the first tenth of one’s harvest or earnings was a way to show obedience and worship to God. 

I did not take home much but never felt richer. There was always something left over. Photo by author.

Although I had heard about tithes – which seemed to me a nebulous idea – I was never convinced and never convicted. 

But on that day in church, God laid out the facts for me with no judgment, just the quiet Voice of love. 

Realising that I was so busy looking after my own house that I had neglected God’s house was a gut punch. Let me explain: I was attending a little church in the South Bronx that always flooded with sewer water in the basement whenever the storms came. This church could neither afford proper AV equipment nor take appropriate care of its pastors. 

I dropped the cheque in the offering bag the following Sunday with a gulp and giant knot in my stomach. I had a gaping hole in my budget that I did not know how to fix. 

Three days after I paid that first tithe, the letter from the IRS came in the mail. My debt was “paid in full”.

God knew how to fix a financial problem: He started from my heart. 

My financial journey took a complete turnaround that day.

Here are nine lessons I learnt through tithing. 

1. My tithe is not a gift 

A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. (Leviticus 27:30)

A birthday present is a gift. My mother’s kisses are a gift. The Christmas feast from my editor was a gift. They did not belong to me and I did not earn them. They were freely given out of love or appreciation or any assorted reason.

God used the tithes of His people to bless the mothers from my Bronx church on Mother’s Day. Photo by author.

My tithe, on the other hand, is not a gift. It belongs to God. So when I pay my tithe, I have to stop patting myself on the back.

The Bible is clear that a tenth of everything belongs to God and is to be set apart for Him.

He calls it robbery if we do not give Him what belongs to Him (Malachi 3:8).   

2. A tithe is a tenth 

God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

But a tithe is not a gift (see 1). The Old Testament separates tithes from offerings (Deuteronomy 16:17).

Beyond the tithe, God loves any number of loaves and fishes I offer Him. 

3. God calls the shots on tithes

Since God owns the tithe, He has final say on where the money goes to.

In the Bronx where the needs were so visible, I had no problem bringing my whole tithe into the storehouse.

When I moved to Singapore into a (much) bigger church with better equipment, I struggled to bring all my tithes into this new home church.

The verse in Malachi says “see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven” (emphasis mine) but I wanted to “allocate”. Having no insight into where the money went to made me uncomfortable. 

I remember an occasion when I gave an offering for a group of youths from the Bronx on a short-term mission. I had indicated that the funds were meant for meals but I later found out the pastor collected money from the youths. I held in my indignation until I could no longer.

My pastor lovingly told me, “I do not want these youths to grow up having the mindset of entitlement. I wanted them to experience giving as well.” I shut up then.

I decided then that once given, the money was God’s and the recipient’s to dispense.

I had to learn again to trust that every penny will be directed to where it is needed. And if not, God will make straight the path of the tithe when it is submitted to Him (Proverbs 3:6).

4. Tithing is partnership with God 

I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. (Numbers 18:21)

I held the unwelcome task of managing the finances of my church in the Bronx. It was a big job not because we had a big budget, but because our monthly deficit was always the size of faith that could only be closed by God. 

The tithes and offerings paid not just for rent and operations of the church but were the sole source of wages of the pastor and church workers. In a little church with the bare necessities and just a handful of gainfully employed workers who tithed, this became glaringly evident. 

In the spiritual reform of Jerusalem by king Hezekiah, “He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the Lord” and the Israelites responded by bringing “a great amount, a tithe of everything“. (2 Chronicles 31:4-5).

I saw first-hand how the full-time pastors and church workers lived from pay check to pay check.  One of the pastors could not afford to quit his day job and had to juggle that with family and church work, leaving him little time and energy to dedicate himself fully to shepherding and nurturing the flock in his care. 

Since the cattle on a thousand hills belong to God, He would not fall off His throne and stop His work if I didn’t tithe.

But I would have missed out on the privilege of being in partnership with God in building His kingdom on earth. 

5. Tithes showcase God’s blessings

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:10; 12)

God issued a challenge here to test Him. 

When I trust Him by putting money where my mouth is, He prospers me. My difficulty was reconciling this promise with the financial lack I see faithful tithers endure.

But 3 John 1:2 pointed out for me how God prospers us; it could be in wealth, in health and/or in soul. 

God sent a car that cost US$200 and ferried church members to and from church. Photo by author.

I found that with my small pay check, my needs in the costly metropolis that is New York were always provided for.  

I always managed to find what many of my friends call “insanely cheap” housing in nice neighbourhoods. I never had to withdraw from social activities due to lack of funds – there was always something left over for me to spend on myself. I bought a $200 car that ran beautifully; with that car I ferried the youths home on Friday nights after church. When I had a severe health risk and had to fight the insurance company for coverage, God fought and won every battle for me. 

My soul prospered big time. I made little but I had never felt richer. 

All my friends could see how “lucky” I was. I explained each time that it was not luck but a blessing from God. 

I saw how God provided for the community with the tithes of the congregation. 

Tithes were the mainstay of support for hospitality, outreaches and community service. The people in the neighbourhood came for Mother’s Day tea, Father’s Day lunch and block parties in the summer. This was a church that gave to the community and the people knew it. 

6. The tithe is an expression of my utmost for His highest 

Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (Proverbs 3:9-10)

After I committed to tithing, I grappled with angst over the question of gross income or net income. In New York City, where 39% of my pay check was gone even before it even came to me, this question really hit the pocket and heart hard. 

I found the answer in this verse. 

First fruits meant I skim off the cream in the milk to pay God before I pay the government, or the landlord, or the utility company.  

Bring God the first fruits means bringing the best. Photo by Arturrro on Unsplash

7. Tithes come from what I have, not what I lack

My commitment to tithing started in the midst of a financial desert; it was so dry I could see cracks in my budget very month.

On particularly hard months, I would ask God if He would provide more income so I could tithe with less pain. 

But I saw that God first gave the mandate to the Israelites to tithe in the barrenness of the desert, not the lavish comfort of a mansion. (Leviticus 27:30).

He was their sole provider, and they tithed out of His provision for them.

So I learnt to. 

8. Tithe in an age of grace is greater than law 

‘“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ‘ Matthew 23:23

I hear often that grace in the New Testament has made the Old Testament law of tithing redundant.

But Jesus Himself said He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17). 

Our Lord never set aside the mandate to tithe. In this verse, He emphasised the need to obey the law … and more. 

Because of grace, I got none of what I deserved but an excess of what I did not deserve. Because of grace, tithing became just a baseline for me. 

9. Tithing purifies my heart

I have always wondered why God had to put Abraham through the painful exercise of sacrificing his son. I had never bought into the proposition that God wanted simply to test Abraham. I found the answer to my wonderings in The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer.

In the second chapter, Tozer delves into the call of Abraham by God to sacrifice his beloved son as an offering. 

“God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy… He now says in effect, ‘It’s all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there.’

“After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words ‘my’ and ‘mine’ never had again the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession … was gone from his heart. Things had been cast out forever… His inner heart was free from them.”  AW Tozer, The Pursuit of God 

God weaned me from my dependence on money for security. Photo from Unsplash.com

It is not a perfect comparison but the same happened to me when God offered me the choice to surrender my finances or hold on to it.

I can testify that through tithing, God weaned me from my dependence on money for security. God’s call to lay down my finances was His mercy to me, that I may know Him: As the Creator who owns all creation; as the Father who takes care of His children.

This is the truth I rest in when the job is gone, the bank account dries up and when commitments crash in like a tsunami.

A heart question

So to tithe or not to tithe? It is a question of the heart.

In the book of Genesis, Abraham and Jacob give a tithe to God even before it became law (Genesis 14:18-20; Genesis 28:22).

Nobody told them to. It was their expression of gratitude and honour to God. 

God loved us first by us by giving us all we need; we love God by obeying His commandments (John 14:15). 

This is no equal exchange. Someone had to pay. And the Son of God did. 

In full. 

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