The Gift of Tithing

Belinda Terro Mooney recounts how she and her husband made the commitment to give 10% of their income to God.

When the Lord asked the Israelites to give Him the first tenth of everything, He was really giving them a gift. It would be both a form of discipline and an act of love, generosity, and obedience toward Him. We too can use tithing as our foundation for discipline in our finances and a daily act of love and generosity toward God submitting ourselves in trust and obedience to His Divine Providence.

I have a powerful witness to share that God is never outdone in generosity and that, God still desires that His people tithe. After marrying and beginning our family, my (now deceased) husband and I struggled to pay off student loans on an inadequate income. We would get further behind, ending up having to borrow money when something broke or we did not have enough to make ends meet. We were not tithing at this time. We just put money into the Church collection basket when we felt we could. We didn't understand this concept of tithing so did not budget correctly or make giving to God a priority. Instead, God got paid after all the bills—which were always too many.

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When I began to pray Morning Prayer with the children after we began to homeschool, I came across all these verses from the Old Testament that admonished the children of Israel to give the first tenth to God. He helped me to understood that this was the right way to live. One of the Church's commandments requires that we support our pastors.

You know how it is when God knocks on the door of your heart and you just understand that you have to change, to do something (usually something different). I knew we should do more and do better. Even though we were much in debt I believed that we should reorient our whole way of thinking to give back to God the first portion of the income He was giving us and then pay as much of the debt as we could after the bills were paid. I just knew that God would bless our efforts as He knew that our desire was to please him and to obey what He had asked us to do, but had been too afraid to do.

We had thought it would be irresponsible to pay tithe before debt with interest charges building up, that we should pay off all the debt and then begin to tithe. God knew that tithing was not irresponsibility, but gratitude for His gift of all our income and obedience to His will, His way—which is not the world's way.

My husband prayed and agreed it was right to put God first and to trust Him to provide all that we needed to pay Him, the bills, and the debt. We started with 4 ½% of our income and pledged to God we would get up to 10% as soon as possible. God saw our desire to please Him, and we felt His grace!

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Almost immediately, our Good Lord rewarded my husband with a new job in a new company, paying twice as much! We set about tithing, paying bills, and putting every extra cent toward our debt. Within 17 months, we had paid off $23,000 of debt while still paying our monthly bills! I know God's gift of tithing is the reason we were able to pay off the debt in such a short time.

After this incredible accomplishment, God continued to shower us with spiritual and material blessings. While raising seven children on one income, we were able to buy a grand piano for our musical children and pay it off within a year, and then buy a harp! We went two sons and two daughters to Catholic colleges. I could go on and on with what God has done for my family through all these years.

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Tithing is a gift to us. We think we're giving to God, but as usual, He's really giving to us. Through tithing, He gives us joy, discipline, generosity, patience, unselfishness, and for those who are married, marital unity. Wow! Where else can you get so much for so little? Tithing has produced miracles in my life and has been an absolute blessing and has given me a totally new perspective on God's Divine Providence. I look at everything, not just the material things, but my children as gifts from Him, from His Divine Providence. I would not be the same person or have the same life were it not for His gift of tithing.

I invite you to receive God's gift, unwrap it, use it, and move forward in peace, joy, and trust in Him who knows all your needs and is already at work providing for them. He will see your desire to trust, obey, and please Him. He will respond. God is so good that he sees our desires and intent to do something for him as already fulfilled (He sees ahead) and responds by multiplying the offering, the fruit, and joy. Praise God!

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