Hello everyone, first of all, I hope whoever is reading this is having a great day. I promised you all on day 1 that I would write about whatever excited me. I thought that it would be pretty cool to include a financial category in this blog. The idea is to discuss budgeting, money mistakes that I have made, thrifting, etc. While this idea was growing in my mind, I thought to myself, in order to be 100% genuine with you all about how I spend my money, I have to be completely transparent with you about my no. 1 money priority: tithing.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of tithing, let me fill you in. Tithing is biblical principle that goes back to the Old Testament where Jacob makes a covenant with God to give God a tenth of everything that God gave Jacob in perpetuity. In exchange, God promised to be with Jacob. God commands that his people tithe (i.e. give 10% of their gross income), God rewards the faithfulness and sacrifice of his people with his unmerited favor and blessings.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
I have been tithing since I earned my first paycheck at 16. My life has never been easy, but I can say with absolute certainty that it has always been blessed beyond measure.
When I tithe, I don’t give to my church, I give through my church. This is what community is all about. This is how God meant to sustain his people when there was a need.
That being said, I still give to causes that excite me. For instance, I am a proud supporter of the Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit that aims to protect our nation’s youth by advocating for common sense gun reform. I sponsor a child in Ethiopia through compassion international and I donate to causes, charities, and campaigns that align with my core values. My passion for these causes doesn’t come close to the passion that I feel about tithing.
I have singlehandedly seen the grace and favor of God on my life and I attribute this to faithfully tithing. Y’all, when I started working full time at age 21, I made $32k per year – that’s literally nothing in Miami. I was underpaid for years, and still God provided. I never wanted for anything. We always paid our (amazingly low) rent on time, and I managed to pay a little bit of law school out of pocket, significantly reducing my student loan debt. When man took, God provided.
Sure, we don’t drive the fanciest of cars, or go on the fanciest vacations, but God has made us good stewards of the the things he has given us and protected us from making horrible financial decisions.
Tithing is hard, especially when things are tough and money gets tight. But you know what’s even harder? Living without the grace and blessing of God in your life. That is simply unimaginable to me.
This post wasn’t meant to be preachy, but follow me for long enough and you’ll learn that I get preachy about the things that I’m passionate about. I want the first post in my finance category to be consistent with the cornerstone of my financial life. I hope that you enjoy this post. Feel free to comment below and share how God has blessed your tithe.
The Lady Esquire 