Join us today for an episode about the reason tithing through debt isn't one way...
Today's episode is focused on if you should align your tithing even when in debt...
In today’s episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about what a tithe is, why we are asked to tithe, and should you tithe while getting out of debt.
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00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 615 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hey there, I'm Cassidy cache the host of that Shakespeare life. If you'd like to impact the world one day like Shakespeare, one way to do that is listening to this. It's inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott made her. So should you tie the way you're getting out of debt?
00:00:29 It depends. It depends on where your priorities are, what you truly value, but if you say you value one thing and then when you look at your budget and you look at your money, the way you're spending your money is not in alignment with those values, then I would challenge you to examine it. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts.
00:00:55 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. We will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world
00:01:25 I talk with you about what a tie even is, why we are asked to tie and about should you tie while you're getting out of debt or struggling financially as we talk about stewarding your treasures, wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime? It turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon
00:01:54 when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission. We'll come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon so one of those questions that I get asked by clients a lot is about tithing. While they're struggling with their finances, you know, maybe they're in debt,
00:02:18 maybe they even are behind on things, or they're not making enough money right now and they're struggling to do all of the things that they want to do. And when they get to the bottom of their budget, they don't have enough money left over to give a tithe. And so people will ask me about should I tie the while I'm in debt, should I give money to charity,
00:02:40 to the church while I'm in debt? Or should I wait until I'm financially stable and then begin to give money to those organizations that I want to support? You know the, the funny thing is that's a question that's asked a lot. And the answer is not really one of rules. There's no one set answer where I can look at it and go,
00:03:04 this is what you should do. The reason why is because as a coach, I don't tell people what they should do with their money. It's their choice. But what I will ask is what are your priorities? What are your values? What's important to you? And if giving is something that's important to you, if, if tithing is something that's important to you,
00:03:25 then let's figure out how we can do this regardless of your financial situation. See, let's talk about what a tie the actually is. You know, ties basically just means a 10th it means 10% the idea behind it is before you do anything with the resources that God has given you, you give back to God, that first fruit, that the 10% sort of the best of what's there.
00:03:56 Not the leftovers, not the 10% that's left at the bottom of the barrel, not the rotting fruit, but the top crop. The best of the best. And what's interesting is a lot of times nowadays when we think about tithing, we think about leaving to God what's left over as opposed to giving to God what came first. You know the reason that a lot of times people will say they don't have enough money left in their budget is because they put tithing at the bottom of their budget.
00:04:30 And, and the question you have to ask yourself is, is that where you put it in terms of priorities from a heart and a mind and a soul perspective? Do you put the tie last or first? And if you put it last, well then when you don't have enough money to do it, that's okay. That's the reality. But if you put it first and you say that this is first in my heart,
00:04:57 that giving to God what God has asked of me is first and foremost in my heart. Well then why are you putting it last? Why are you waiting to see what's left over before you decide if you have enough money to put that first? If that's the first priority, then that needs to be funded before anything else and then you figure out how to live on the rest.
00:05:27 The 90% that's left and I'll tell you that's not easy if you're in debt, if you're struggling, if you're behind on payments, if you're dealing with all of that emotion and you're getting collector calls and all of those other things to give that money over is a very deep act of faith and in fact, that's why we're called to tie. It's not because that money is important to God,
00:05:53 it's not because giving that is what's going to suddenly make the church win or lose or make heaven happen on earth or anything else. We're asked to tie, to help change our minds and our hearts and our relationship with money is to help reprogram how we look at money. It's to give us the heart of stewardship so that when we look down and we see our paycheck,
00:06:20 instead of saying thank God I got paid, you say thank God that these resources were given to me, that this money was given to me because now I can do what God has called me to do with it. And one of the first things God calls you to do is to give back to God with a cheerful heart, not with a bigger raging heart,
00:06:43 not worried about it, not angry about it, not scared about it, but with a loving heart, with the recognition that that's what we're called to do. So should you ties, if you're in data up to your eyeballs and it's going to slow down getting out of debt? Well, honestly I think that's an assumption. It's one of the things that I've seen happen time after time is people,
00:07:07 once they wrap their head around it and they began to give the tithe, then suddenly because it opens their heart, it opens their mind and opens their relationships and their view with money. That new money comes in to their situation. Now, I can't promise you that's going to happen, but it does say that God will open up the doors of heaven and pour blessings out upon you.
00:07:28 Sometimes those blessings come in the form of cash. Other times they come in the form of relief, mindset, happiness, lack of stress, lots of arguments, communication and other things. But what's interesting is those intangible benefits suddenly begin to make it easier for you to focus on what's really important for you to be joyful for the fact that your family is healthy and safe and fed and those collector Carl's aren't nearly as stressful anymore.
00:08:00 It helps you begin to recognize that at the end of the day, yes you need to pay back your dad and you should work very hard to do that, but you also need to provide for your family and make sure that they have a roof over their head and they have food in their bellies. Not eating Philemon Yon, but making sure that they are taken care of.
00:08:21 It relieves the way you think about money and reprograms your heart and your mind to begin to have a relationship with money. That is much more healthy. And because of that, usually that change in mindset, those change in habits that change in behavior pays off in the longterm and begins to make things happen faster instead of slower. It's a weird paradox, but oftentimes the best way to go fast is to actually slow down because it changes the way we act and the way we view things.
00:09:00 And that change is what ripples through and makes more changes down the road. So should you tie the way you're getting out of debt? It depends. It depends on where your priorities are, what you truly value. But if you say you value one thing and then when you look at your budget and you look at your money, the way you're spending your money is not in alignment with those values,
00:09:26 then I would challenge you to examine it and make sure that your money and your values align. Thanks for listening
00:10:01 you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship.com/treasures or text in the U S four four two two two treasures tips, and we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures. Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.
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In today's episode, I talk with you about:
Perhaps the tithe can be a beginning way to acknowledge God as the owner of all things, but it is only a beginning and not an ending. ― Richard J. Foster
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