Tithing is a fundamental practice expected of believers. While the Bible clearly emphasizes its importance, I recognize that this practice has often been misused and misinterpreted within the Christian community, leading many to question whether they should contribute ten percent of their income, profits, or produce.
Like many divine practices—such as the Ten Commandments, marriage, and more—the enemy always distorts and corrupts God’s intentions. However, these distortions do not make the practices ungodly. They were all created by God to glorify Him, and everything that originates from Him is inherently good, pleasing, and perfect.
In this article, I will share insights into how tithing truly operates. You will joyfully discover how tithing reflects the divine principles of salvation, revealing that these practices are interconnected by a common thread.
1. What Is Tithing?
Tithing is a practice that was first conducted by Abram after a battle with kings. He emerged victorious, recovering all the people that were captured and gathering the spoils from the battle.
Thereafter, he encountered a High Priest, Melchizedek, who offered him wine and bread. And then, the High Priest declared a blessing over Abraham.
Abraham, after the blessing, decided to give the High Priest a tenth of all the spoils he had received from the battle (Genesis 14:20). This tenth portion is referred to as tithe.
The events that followed were remarkable. God blessed Abraham, granting him great promises and assurance for his future and the lives of his descendants. These blessings would endure far beyond his death.
2. Tithing Is Comparable To Salvation
Spiritual freedom is derived from salvation given to us by Christ and similarly, financial freedom arises from the practice of tithing.
Galatians 5:1 NIV
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Let’s uncover the principles that underpin both salvation and tithing
2.1 Salvation
Salvation is a transaction where you offer your life to God by believing in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in return, you receive a new life—free from sin and victorious in Christ. This life is spiritual and eternal in nature; though it begins here on earth the moment you are born again.
This to me is a great deal, a bargain to be exact. All I have to do is believe and obey God’s Word, and I receive a life empowered by the Holy Spirit—one that produces freedom, love, joy, peace, riches, wisdom and many more.
Though I give my life to God, my life itself is not truly my own—it comes from Him. Therefore, I am essentially giving back to God what already belongs to Him. God gave me the will to choose, and I receive salvation by exercising that will to surrender my life to Christ.
As I offer my life to God, I receive far more than what I may ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). God is, by nature, generous, as we give our lives to Him, He gives eternal life. We give Him our lives that have an expiration date, yet He gives us a life that is eternal.
The nature of this eternal life is a life perpetually in His presence. This is why David wrote, “My only desire is to be in the house of the Lord.”
Psalm 27:4 NLT
“The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.”
It is no wonder Peter delighted in being in the presence of Christ during the Transfiguration. There Peter, James and john witnessed Jesus in his fullness of deity, citing in Matthew 27:4: “It is good for us to be here.”
2.2 Tithing
If you understand how salvation works, then understanding tithing will be simpler, as the principles that underpin both are the same.
Tithing is giving to God what belongs to Him. Everything comes from Him, including money, wealth, riches, profits and more (Haggai 2:8).
When we give to God through our tithe, we are declaring that tour resources come from Him (Romans 11:26), and we are simply stewards, with a will to choose, and the right choice is to give to God what belongs to Him.
We have read in the proceeding section that giving our lives to God guarantees us eternal life in the presence of the Father. Tithing follows a similar principle: when we give our tithes to God, He promises to bless us with even more than what we have given.
Malachi 3:2 NLT
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!”
These are the words directly from the Lord’s mouth. He is inviting us to test Him by bringing all our tithes. If we can trust Him with our lives, which are precious to us, how can we not trust Him with a tenth of our resources? As believers we are certain that God is trustworthy to keep our lives safe into eternity; surely, He will also be faithful with the resources we offer to Him. After all, God is not a man that He should lie!
Tithing leads to financial freedom. When we serve God, and obey His word which includes the act of tithing, the result is financial freedom. Hoarding and greed are by-products of a mentality that is enslaved to money. By giving your tithe, you declare that you are free from the bondage of money and have become a servant of God.
3. The Rate Of Return In The Kingdom
This is a kingdom principle: that whatever you give you receive it back at an exponential rate. An exponential graph has no ending; it rises infinitely and beyond the end. When we give to God, we receive more than what we have given.
Proverbs 11:24 NKJV
“There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.”
The returns in our giving reveal the nature of God. He gives generously. We observe this notion at play in the life of Abraham, who, after attempting to sacrifice the life of his son Isaac, as God commanded, he receives numerous children and descendants.
Genesis 22:7 NLT
“I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.”
Another powerful example is when Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish, blessed them, and fed over 5,000 men—with plenty of leftovers afterwards (Matthew 14:20-21).
The widow at Zarephath who gave Elijah her last meal is no exception to this divine principle. She experienced an abundant overflow of food simply because she gave to the prophet of God (1 Kings 17:15-16).
Understand this: we can never out-give God. His ways of giving are always supernatural and jaw dropping. He commands us to test Him by offering our tithes.
4. Final Remarks
To summarize, we have established the following key points regarding tithing:
- An act that is acceptable to God and brings Him honor.
- Tithing principles are akin to salvation: It is a transaction where we willingly give to God, and He reciprocates—bestowing blessings in tithing and eternal life in salvation respectively.
- God is a generous giver, he fills our lives with good things (Psalm 103:5).
- Tithing provokes God to demonstrate and reveal His divine generosity and giving power, for God will never allow you to out-give Him. He gives more returns as proof that He is God, and that His treasury of riches, wealth and resources never runs dry.
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