Spirit-led giving is more challenging but it is also more rewarding and more beneficial. The evidence has already been presented showing how tithing is not required for Christians, but in case you are wondering in the back of your mind if tithing has more practical benefits than tithing, I will show you why spirit-led giving is better all around.
Spirit-led giving forces us to interact with God
Tithing does not require prayer with God. You get your paycheck and count 10% of it. There are no questions other than that. Spirit-led giving requires us to be in tune with God, his Word, and his will. Prayer helps us transform our hearts and prepare us to be open to what he says.
As a spirit-led giver, I would pray more often for God to show me how I can serve or give to someone or something in need. God desires a relationship with us, so in order to do so, he wants us to communicate with him. What better way to encourage us to communicate with God than to remove the legalistic script and encourage us to seek him for answers?
Spirit-led giving forces us to interact with others
If I tithe, I don’t have to go out and find where or who to give to. I can drop the tithe in the offering plate and the church takes care of the rest. I don’t need to communicate with others about their needs or build relationships that help me with that either.
Spirit-led giving encourages us to communicate and fellowship with others. If I am interacting with others as God hopes, then I’ll fellowship and commune with them which brings me to a deeper understanding of their needs. We were meant to share with others.
Tithing silos us into a corner that does not expect us to reach out and touch others’ lives. Giving to God’s work without understanding the church body is not how God intended us to be. If only for giving purposes, we need to have conversations and interactions with others to find out why God has allowed us to cross paths with one another. Many times it’s not about giving money or material things. Sometimes it’s about a word of encouragement or prayer.
Spirit-led giving is not constrained by how much
As long as you reach your mark of 10%, God’s wrath is subdued and you are off the hook. How many times can people give more than 10% but don’t? I am not sure the answer to that, but it’s more often than it should be. Between that person and God, they missed the mark. Spirit-led giving leaves the door open for us to continually ask if God wants more or less.
Spirit-led giving also gives you the liberty to reduce your debt. We should not tithe while in debt. Going into further debt to tithe does more harm than good. God looks at the entire stewardship package. He doesn’t need your measly tithe. He isn’t so powerless that his church will go bankrupt because of you. Spirit-led giving can improve our financial stability and help us contribute in more meaningful ways in the future.
Spirit-led giving is not constrained by who or where
When you are a spirit-led giver, you can help someone with groceries or a utility bill. During these moments, you have opportunities to minister to these folks in other ways through prayer or by witnessing. If you give to the same organization or pastor each week, our giving will become impersonal.
Spirit-led giving offers us the discernment to put our money towards more meaningful people and places. It’s important for our giving to touch our lives and also the lives of others. The giver is supposed to be more blessed than the receiver, but our giving is so out of touch and so impersonal, that we miss out on the blessing that God has intended for us to have.
Spirit-led giving keeps us accountable
If we are using our discernment while we are giving, we are keeping one another accountable to God. There are many leaders and organizations that are misaligned with God. If you believe that tithing is required directly to the church or pastor, then you are compelled to give your tenth to the church regardless of your feelings towards how the leaders are allocating the funds. This type of plan will produce over-funding, under-funding, or other misuse of funds.
On a personal level, spirit-led giving will encourage us and keep us accountable to plug into the people, ministry, and church we are supporting. If we are freely led to support someone or something, we will be more inclined to follow up or check-in. Tithing detaches us from people and places, so once we’ve given our money, we don’t support it in other ways.
Spirit-led giving brings more joy
It’s no surprise that people are happier when they do something of their own freewill. We lose joy with tithing because it’s monotonous and compulsive. The Bible says the giver should receive blessing and joy, but it doesn’t appear that way.
The offering time is one of the most solemn moments in church. I suppose giving is so serious because we force people to give a huge chunk of their paycheck while they have to go back home and figure out which credit card they are going to use to pay for the car repairs. It’s probably a good idea not to make too light of something when it is really hurting someone inside.
Spirit-led giving is supernatural
If I were to offer my son to pay for the sins of those who committed a crime against me, it would take a supernatural force to not only allow it but desire it. God did not tithe, nor was he compelled. His spirit-led form naturally works in this way.
Many non-Christians can tithe to their false gods. Enforcing a minimum amount on your religious believers is nothing unique. What is refreshing, new, and divine is the ability to give without being required to. All other religions have stipulations to encourage them to give while earning their salvation.
We are already heirs of God’s kingdom and a part of the family. God’s grace has already paid for anything that we owed. We give because of what God has already done for us, not because we need to earn his favor.
Spirit-led giving is not under a curse
Galatians 3:10 says that those who rely on the law are under a curse. Rid yourselves from the curse of the law of tithing. Just because tithing came before the Mosaic Law, doesn’t mean that it’s not part of the Old Covenant that was fulfilled in Jesus. Animal sacrifices also came before the Mosaic Law, so there’s no excuse to continue tithing because it was before Moses.
Some of us are cursing our finances by tithing. We are trying to achieve what is impossible. There were so many rules and stipulations regarding tithing that it would be difficult for us to decipher the correct way to tithe. Place yourself under the grace and liberty of Spirit-led giving. Scripture states that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Spirit-led giving always gives more
Most of us would agree that God values our hearts more than our treasures. When you give by the Holy Spirit, you are giving more than just money, you are giving your willing heart and mind. This is more valuable to God than just task completers.
Two examples in the bible that come to mind when it comes to abundant giving are both based on freewill giving by the Holy Spirit. In Exodus 36, the Israelites were led by their freewill to give to the tabernacle and gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop giving. In Acts, the early church was so willing to give that no one had a need. In both instances of abundant giving, there was no minimum requirement. It was all given out of free will.
Spirit-led giving comes with help
The Israelite farmers who gave a tithe of their crops in the Old Testament were on their own. God sent us a helper in the New Testament. Tithing is a lonely way to serve God. It isolates us from everything about him. God has given us a guide that is much better suited than the law was for Israel.
Tithing in Israel was a blanketed rule across the board. There were no deviations or personal applications. The Holy Spirit, who lives within us, knows us better than we do and he can help us. It is wonderful to consider that God is walking with us to guide us on our decisions. Many want to implement tithing to help immature believers with giving, but God already has given us that help and it isn’t tithing.
If you are interested in reading an unbiased and objective view, you can read the pros and cons of tithing vs Spirit-led giving
Then how will the church survive? Pay the mortgage, utilities, insurance, lawn care, and such bills? What about Malachi 3:10 where it speaks of bringing your tithes into the storehouse?
Hi Peggy,
You raise an important question. The church does need to pay mortgage, utilities, etc. We can look at scripture for answers to this.
– Israel supported local ministry in the Old Testament before they started the tithe (Exodus 35)
– Jesus’ ministry was supported on earth by freewill gifts (Luke 8:1-3)
– Jesus sent his disciples out on freewill gifts (Matthew 10:8-10)
– The levitical system survived 40 years in the wilderness without the tithing command
We can also look at the thousands of non-profit and Christian organizations that survive on freewill gifts. Here is a list of organizations, denominations, and churches that are supported without tithes. https://www.tithing.com/non-tithing-churches-organisations-denominations/
As far as the church storehouse is concerned, the Bible does not correlate the temple storehouse to the Church. The temple storehouse is pictorial of heaven – our eternal storehouse. The Church is a gathering place like synagogues were used in the Old Testament. Only 1% of Israel’s increase ever made it to the temple storehouse. If you’d like to read more on this assessment, please visit this link https://www.tithing.com/blog/is-the-church-a-storehouse-for-tithing/
We need to make sure God’s work is funded. He is calling us to give freely, sacrificially, and cheerfully. It is a challenge for us to heed to the Holy Spirit’s calling and obey.