Giving: The Three Questions
Week 3 | How Much?
Bruce Miller, author
The Engage God Daily for this series is a reprint of Senior Pastor, Bruce Miller’s book, Giving: The Three Questions.
This week, we are reprinting Chapter 3 of Giving: Three Questions. So far, we considered why we should give and to whom should we give? This week, we’re answering the final question, “How much should we give?”
Day 1
How much should we give?
Where does this question come from? It varies.
The question arises from sincere Christians who are not sure what the Bible says, but they really want to honor God.
Others ask the question out of a desire to find the minimum level. Their real question is, “How little could I give, and it still be acceptable?”
The question arises as we set personal budgets and prayerfully ask how much to spend, save and give. Concrete financial realities complicate the question, such as should I give if I am in debt? What if I am not able to pay my bills right now? What if I lost my job, but still have investments? What if I am on a fixed income? And more questions related to your specific financial circumstances.
Many Christians have been taught to “tithe,” which is to give 10 percent. You may wonder if you should give 1/10th of your income, and then is that figured from your gross or your net, and what counts as income? If your grandma gives you $100 for your birthday, are you obligated to give $10 to your church?
You may have heard a slogan such as “give til it hurts” or “give more than you can afford.” Is your giving ever enough? Jesus told one man in the Bible to give away all his money (Luke 18:22). And a widow who gave away all she had to live on was commended by Jesus (Mark 12:41-44). Is that the biblical standard for how much to give if you are really committed to God?
Why do you think the question of how much to give is so sensitive? Why do people avoid a conversation on giving? I wonder if it’s because money ties straight to our hearts. What we do with our money concretely reveals our hearts. Jesus said,
Where your treasure is, there your heart is also (Matthew 6:21).
It’s a matter of the heart. Money concretely expresses what matters to us. It shows where our faith lies, and it is countable and objective, so it is sensitive.
Since your giving is a response to God’s generosity, how much did he give? He gave his one and only Son. You could never “repay” God, and that’s not even a noble motive for giving. We delight in God’s amazing generosity to us that inspires us to be generous out of gratitude. God welcomes us into his family and offers us an eternal inheritance that believers share with Jesus Christ as coheirs. Our divine inheritance is simply incredible, so rich.
Let’s cut through the rhetoric and go straight to God’s Word to answer this practical, spiritual question. You do not want to be stingy, sporadic or unfaithful, but rather generous and honoring to God, and you want to avoid extremes, and avoid legalism. What does God’s Word actually tell you about how much you should give?
The “Tithe”
One answer you will find to this question is to tithe. “Tithe” is one of those words you hear often in churches, but not much in general conversation. While the word tithe literally means “tenth,” today the term “tithing” is often erroneously used of all giving. People talk about “tithing” $100 a month when they actually make $5,000 a month. A true tithe would be five times as much, $500, because that is 10 percent of $5,000.
Does God command you to give 10 percent? Good Christians disagree on this topic. Here’s how I see it. In the Old Testament law, there were actually three “tithes”—a tithe was required to support the Levites, a second 10 percent was used for a religious festival, and every third year an additional 10 percent was collected for widows and orphans for a total of about 23 percent!
While Jesus refers to the tithe (Matthew 23:23), the New Testament never commands giving a tithe. However, the 10 percent guideline can serve as a simple starting point. For instance, even before the law, Abraham gave a tenth (Genesis 14:20). As we uncover New Testament principles for giving, you will see that many of us should be giving more than 10 percent or even 23 percent.
So, while the tithe is not a command or a law for Christians today, it is a simple, easy-to-figure guideline based on an historical precedent. I encourage parents to teach your children to give. When we gave our kids an allowance, we taught them to set aside 10 percent to give to the Lord at the church. If their allowance was $10 a week, they gave $1 a week, beginning a life of generosity.
If the answer is not that God requires a tenth (a tithe), then how much does the Bible say you should give? Given that you really want to honor God in this area of your life, what do you do?
For the rest of the week, we’ll be answering this question with a practical approach to giving.
Reflect
If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, then on your best days you really do want to honor God with your giving. But how much giving will honor God? If you are really giving in a mature manner, then how much money should you give?
Certainly, the Holy Spirit is involved in guiding us, but does God give us any guidelines to help? Can you ever give enough? Married couples often disagree over this question. One wants to give more and the other less. If you are married, use the opportunity this series provides to have honest, loving, grace-filled discussions with your spouse about giving.
- What is your current giving plan? (It may be that you don’t yet have one.) What practical steps would you need to take to plan your giving in advance?
- What is your view on “tithing”?
How would you answer another person who asked you, “How much does the Bible say we are to give?”
