Question from a reader:
I ran across your article on tithing. I’m on government assistance right now. Do I need to tithe out of the food stamp portion?
Answer from Stephanie Anderson, EPM staff:
God bless you for your desire to be generous and to honor the Lord with your finances. Here are some resources from our website that might help you as you pray and seek God’s wisdom about this:
“I’m Living on Social Security/Disability. Should I Tithe off This?”
When another reader asked Randy about tithing if someone has no financial income, here was his advice:
The concept of tithing is based on the assumption that there is income. Anyone who is alive has income of some kind. Are you getting money or material provision in any form such as unemployment, Social Security, welfare, help from a church, family, or friend, etc.? If the answer is yes to these or anything else, then that is your income. You can always tithe, even if you have no cash. Where are you getting your food or clothing? Give 1/10th of it back to the Lord by giving it to other people who need food or clothing. Often people who live in abject poverty (as the Macedonians did in II Corinthians 8) are the greatest examples of giving. And the poor widow had only her two coins but gave them both away.
My heart goes out to you, and I know thinking about giving when you are in a tough place financially can be discouraging. I want to encourage you, though, that you have the opportunity through this to have your faith stretched and to see God provide in new ways that will grow your relationship with Him. He looks at our hearts and desires for us to be generous as He is generous. God knows that’s what is best for us, will bring us the most joy, and will bring Him glory.
Randy also writes, “Trust Him enough to begin this life-changing, eternity-impacting adventure of giving. Scripture makes clear that in many cases God blesses us financially when we generously give (Proverbs 11:24-25; Luke 6:38). ‘Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously’ (2 Corinthians 9:6).”
