Is Your Budget Too Tight to Tithe?

By Rod Anderson, CP Cartoonist Friday, February 16, 2018

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had." ~Luke 21:1-4 (NIV)

I'll never forget the moment my husband and I decided to change the way we tithed. He and I had both grown up in Christian homes and churches that taught that tithing should be strictly 10 percent of one's gross income.

The only problem? We were living on a low income during the economic downturn of the 2000s—and after paying the mortgage on an underwater home we owned in a different state, our rent where we were living, and health insurance, we were left with a mere $250 per month to pay our utilities and feed our family of four. I was also expecting our third child at the time.