Tithing is the practice of giving away 10% of your income (tithe means one-tenth, with means 10%), usually to a charity or a charitable cause. Some people really swear by this practice and consider it integral and crucial to the process of wealth creation.
Benefits of tithing includes:
In my opinion, I think too many people get too caught up in the specific practice of tithing per se and misunderstand/lose sight of its real purpose and significance. Too often I see and find people developing a love-hate relationship with tithing, feeling obliged/compelled to tithe even though they want-don't want to do so. They feel that they should, but they don't really/completely want to. Then some of them develop guilt complex of tithing-and-feeling-bad, or not-tithing-and-feeling-bad.
Look, it's perfectly okay NOT to tithe, from a personal perspective. I am a regular tither, and myself and my wife has been tithing to church, worthy causes etc since 2008. It's nothing new to us because now it's a part of our life and lifestyle. But if you don't have a desire to tithe, don't. You don't have to beat yourself up about it – let go of the guilt, and forgive yourself. Not tithing does not make you a bad person.
Why don't we consider the true purpose of tithing? From a biblical perspective, tithing is giving a tenth to God because it is He who first gave to us. In fact, we also willingly give to Him because we love Him and love to support His church and His cause. From a secular perspective, tithing is to serve the highest/greatest good of all…but it's not the only way. There are many other ways too.
Here's some ideas to consider:
Money is not the only way to give – like the list above, there are many forms of giving, and each brings a different enjoyment. =)
Louise and I still tithe regularly, and we've been doing so since 2008, and we're not likely to change that because we enjoy tithing and giving. As we give, we feel blessed and happy that we're able to support God's church and kingdom, and we also note certain spiritual blessings and protection that come upon us, as well as more financial opportunities that come our way in ways that are not so common. But that's our experience and walk in our Christian life.
We also participate in free-will giving to people and causes in our daily experience that we feel we want to give to, in conjunction to giving to God and to the highest and greatest good of all, whichever comes first.. However, we don't give to causes that we disagree with, such as causes that conduct medical unethically. Or causes that causes harm. If the cause is rooted in values that I disagree with, such as cruelty, war, greed etc, I will not support them.
Understand that the intention you put into your giving and tithing is much, much more important than the specific means of giving i.e. what you think about your tithing/giving is more important that where/how much you tithe/give. Give such that you feel good, nice even, and not guilty. Well, if you currently don't have an exact or viable outlet for giving that is in alignment with your values and makes you feel good, then wait and look around for a new outlet to come for you to be able to give/tithe to.
As we move away from scarcity thinking to abundance thinking, and as we give and tithe to God and worthy causes, aim for personal development and progressive living such that our lives become closer to the causes that we support. Increase the worth of our personal values and cause.
That's the reason why as thought about it, I wanted for not only for 10% of my finances to be tithe-able, I want my whole life, all that I do, be a tithe itself. I want more of my time, effort and finances to serve God and the highest good of all, so I am transforming my work here, as a hand therapist/business owner gradually to NigelChua.com, slowly and consciously into the personal development arena. Here I know I'm able to serve God and greater good more directly and purposefully.
One of my personal challenges was to balance between giving and receiving. In fact, I believe it's because I've been pushing very much on the giving whilst denying myself/us much receiving that caused/limited our financial growth and prosperity to a certain limit (in 2010 and 2011, there were no growth financially, but we gave much much more).
But I realized that this "non-receiving" mindset wasn't very sensible; in fact, it is a lightworker syndrome and thinking of only an either-or mindset.
What I really needed to do was to acknowledge that as we give, we receive, and as we receive, we give, and that's how we keep the flow. There's a balance required. And to me, that was an eye-opening experience, to invite greater abundance into our lives and at the same time, placing that abundance to serve God and the greater good.
It's a false assumption to think that giving = less returns, or that keeping = more returns. I've found that giving = more returns and keeping = less returns. Interestingly, the more we give, the more we tend to receive. But I think the greatest eye-opening revelation to me was that they can be combined, i.e. that as we give, we receive.
They're both part of the equilibrium and continuum.
There is a place in your heart, mind and life where giving can be painless and receiving can be selfless. Find that place in your own life, move towards it, and stay there. As you move there/stay there, your scarcity mindedness will disappear, and an abundance mindset will come in and stay in your mind and be shown in your reality.
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