The Day I Stopped Tithing

I do not remember the exact day, but I can say that for me, it was one of the few decisions that to this day I regret.

I was raised in the church and one thing that I always did was tithe, faithfully, even if I didn't go to church every Sunday, I always figured out a way to tithe.

That all changed after I moved to Omaha and started my first corporate job. I was new to having coins in my pocket and was in the baby steps of learning how to budget effectively. As I built my first budget as an adult, I made sure to have tithing as one of my line items.

After about a year into my new way of life, I cannot remember how it came up, but I told some friends how much I tithed each month. They were like:

“What!” “That is a lot of money!” “Are you sure you need to tithe that much each month??” “If you cut that in half, think of how much you would have in your pocket to save.”

And I got to thinking, “what would life be with a few more dollars in my pocket?” I could go on more vacations or pamper me more or simply go to more happy hours! I know you are thinking I can't be serious right now - keep in mind I am 24 at the time with some coins in my pocket, my logic was not the smartest at that point, it was all about the turn up!

So, I decide to cut my tithe payment in half which I did for a few months, and eventually I stop tithing all together. The crazy part in all this is I listened to people that did not tithe and didn’t go to church regularly. I know you are thinking why I did I do that, but I listened to them, nonetheless.

If you remember in the first ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film and how the pirates sold off all their gold but didn’t realize that they were losing a part of their soul.

That’s how I feel now looking back at the period I did not pay tithes. Suddenly, I was getting hit with new expenses that had never occurred before. I had decided about six (6) months into not tithing, I was going to get back on track then BAM! I was hit with a a $2500 car maintenance bill and after that bill, life was never the same. After the addition of many credit cards and other debts, for the six years I did not pay tithes. Ultimate failure.

Now I know there will be naysayers that say, "Is tithing the reason for your money issues?"

I get it, there are things that factor into it as well, not saving, not budgeting right, not saying no when you do not have the money and just charging it instead, but I cannot negate that I stopped doing something that was important to me and my faith. And at the end the day I believe it did have an impact on my financial troubles.

There is a reason for everything though, the challenges that I have had during this trying time has led to this blog and sharing my challenges to hopefully help others in owning the lessons from their pasts and growing into better individuals moving forward.

I am not going to tell you that "you must tithe and that you should do it", tithing to me is personal and is dependent on the individual. I am glad to say I have started back tithing my full amount each month! I had gotten to a point where I realized I can’t even manage 100% of my money, I might as well tithe my 10% and have God provide and sustain me with my remaining 90% of my income. I can tell you each month I have started back tithing, anytime I have had a need, God has provided for me in ways I never expected. I don't want to spoil my future blog more focused on when I started back tithing, but I will say in closing in life you reap what you sow and for a while I didn't sow anything tithe wise, and I learned what that life is like and I ain’t doing that again!

#tithe #tithing #staytruetoyou #graceandmercy #speakupla