Q&A Home > T > Tithes My husband is currently between jobs. The church is asking every member to increase their monthly donations to help with upcoming church expansion. When my husband recently took a salary decrease, we did not feel it would be right to cut back on our monthly tithes so we kept our tithes as is.Â
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My husband wants to take a leap of faith and increase our tithes before being employed again. I am not sure what to do but I definitely do not want to displease the Lord nor do I want to dishonor him. I am praying for the same faith my husband has but I am not sure if we are being careless or if we are being faithful. My confusion stems from when our priest said yesterday that as the Lord provides for you, give accordingly.
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My husband is collecting a monthly severance check which helps sustains us. We have two teen daughters in a private school and thankfully we are able to pay our monthly bills. We are not struggling and are grateful for the Lord's provisions. He is seeking daily for a new job and we trust the Lord will open the right door for him. Do we take that leap of faith and increase now or do we wait for my husband to be employed? You would not be careless in any way to restrain from adding to your tithing. I hope you do not feel guilty about not increasing your usual tithes. The priest probably meant this gesture for anyone who is in a situation where the family can afford to increase their donations. If and when you can give more, that will be great; but if you can't, God knows and will bless you in either case. During the Vesper prayers, the priest recites the beautiful and comforting words of the Litany of the Oblations saying, "As You have received the gifts of the righteous Abel, the sacrifice of our father Abraham, and the two mites of the widow, so also receive the thank offerings of Your servants, those in abundance and those in scarcity, hidden or manifest. Those who desire to offer to You but have none, and those who have offered these gifts to you this very day, give them the incorruptible instead of the corruptible, the heavenly instead of the earthly, and the eternal instead of the temporal. Their houses and their stores, fill them with every good thing..." In these words, the Lord assures us of God's loving perception on the cheerful giver who desires to give as him who has and can give. If your husband's good faith stirs him to give more, be assured that his kindness and generosity will not be overlooked by God, but your family will be compensated with many blessings. "Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days" (Ecclesiastes 11:1).
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