Should We Tithe

Let me ask you this. Should be have a bath everyday? Just stop and think about that! If we don't take a bath, would God be mad at us? Is that why we bathe... just to please Him? Of course not! We take a bath everyday because we know that it is good for us. We take good care of ourselves because we are interested in our wellbeing. There is no legal requirement for us to bathe everyday, but we still practise it simply because we know it is good for us. Now let's come to the main question. Should we tithe?

Well, we don't have to just as there is no mandatory requirement stating that we bathe everyday. But if we are really interested in ourselves and our wellbeing, we would be wise enough to practice it diligently.

Why should we tithe?
Tithe is really a way of honoring God with our substance. Everything good that we ever have in our lives comes from God. We acknowledge that fact by giving a tenth back to Him. By tithing, we are in essence stating, “Lord, You are my Source of total supply for every need in my life. Everything good that I have and enjoy has come from You. So I acknowledge that by giving back to You a tenth of what You have given me”. So tithing is really a way of honoring God. By doing that, we put God in charge of our lives and let Him be our source and take care of us. It is really the best thing that we can do for our own wellbeing.

In Matt 22:19 – 21, we read about Jesus replying the Pharisees about paying taxes. He said “Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription”? “Caesar's,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.”

In a democratic society, a portion of our income belongs to the government in the form of taxes. Even though it is our income, a certain percentage of it legally belongs to the government. If we fail to pay our taxes, we become law breakers. Even though it is our money, the government’s name is written on the tax portion of our money, and we are legally bound to hand over that money to the government. Likewise, God’s Name is written on one tenth of our income and we really honor Him when we give that portion to Him. It is His. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.”

Many times, we feel the need to give only when there is a specific need. When the church or a ministry needs funds for a certain project we feel motivated to give. At other times, we may feel there is no necessity to give since there is no need to be met anyway. But tithing is not need-based giving. We need to honor God at all times. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, the King of Salem who obviously had no financial needs. He was greater than Abraham in everyway. Nothing that Abraham gave could make Melchizedek any richer. But still Abraham gave tithes to Him because he wanted to honor God. So we need to tithe at all times, need or no need.