Giving according to what you have and not what you earn

I promised myself not to write on tithing anymore but have had to break this promise yet again due to some rather strange tithe teachings making their rounds on the internet.

Scripture says one thing but people either ignorantly or deliberately twist it to say something else to suit their purpose. And this is quite disheartening.

I stumbled upon the blog of some preacher who had started a “tithing challenge” in his church. He defended his actions with a lot of scripture twisting and personal opinions. The one that really got to me was his interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8. As far as he was concerned, Paul’s charge to the church in Corinth to give whatever they could afford according to what they had meant that they were supposed to give beyond 10%.

12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. 2 Corinthians 8

How can one read the above scripture and come away saying Paul meant they should give beyond 10%? Quite mind-boggling!

There is a whole world of difference between what you have and what you earn. Paul’s charge was that everyone should give according to what they had and not what they earned; a common mistake we make in today’s church. Many insist and believe that proportionate giving means giving a portion of what you earn when in fact scriptures calls it giving according to what you have.

I will explain with this illustration. We have 2 men, Bill and Luke, who both earn £1200 every month. Bill is unmarried and lives alone in a one bedroom flat.  While Luke on the other hand is married with 2 children, his wife is a full-time housewife and they live in a 2 bedroom house. Even though both men earn the same will they have the same leftover after they have met all necessary financial obligations?

Below is a breakdown of the income and expenditure for both men

Monthly expenses for Luke
Wages			1200
Rent		750
Utilities		200
feeding		100
Transportation		100
Total expenses		1150
Amount left			50

Monthly expenses for Bill
Wages			1200
Rent		550
Utilities		120
feeding		60
Transportation		100
Total expenses		830
Amount left			370

Assuming they keep to their budgets, both men can never spend the same amount on monthly necessities and both will never have the same amount of money leftover either. It will be a huge burden on Luke to insist that he gives 10% of what he earns, even more wicked to insist that he gives 10% of what he earns before tax. This will leave a lot of his bills unpaid and remember he has 2 young children.

Some will insist that he gets another job or that his wife should work. That is a decision he has to make by himself and it is not a decision a pastor or a well-meaning brother should make on his behalf. And besides, Luke and his wife worked out that should his wife work; all she earns will go towards childcare costs. Others will say his tithing is proof of his love for God and God will reward him according. I say that is a very bad and silly advice.

The charge in scripture is “give according to what you have” and if that is up to 10%, it is all good. God will never punish anyone unable to give up to 10% as He never instituted it as the absolute minimum one must give.