By Pastor John Brito

Are you tired of feeling as if your finances are out of control? Do you worry if there will be enough in your bank account to cover your monthly expenses? Then, the first step to getting your finances under control and moving toward financial peace is knowing where your money is going. It isn’t fun to sit down to determine how much income comes in to your household each month and what goes out in expenses, but this is a necessary step toward setting a monthly budget. Without a budget you won’t be able to designate where your money is going. Your emotions will do that for you.

Without a budget, you’ll make impulsive, feel-good purchases hoping or guessing that there’s enough money to cover the expenses. You’ll never gain control of your finances this way and you’ll continue to stress over money.

Setting a budget isn’t difficult, and it’s an important step for getting rid of financial stress. Here’s how. First, determine what your total household income per month is. Then determine what your expenses are each month. Then decide what things are necessary for you to include in your monthly budget. The big stuff, like rent or mortgage, utilities, car payment, groceries, insurance, and the like, should be in your budget. Then determine if enough comes in each month to cover these expenses. If the answer is no, then start cutting out other household and miscellaneous expenses until there’s enough to cover your main expenses.

Cutting things out is never easy and requires a lot of discipline. But if you do this, you will have set a monthly household budget and you will have the peace of knowing that you will be able to meet your financial obligations. Basically, that’s what it takes to set a budget.

So, what’s missing? Well, while this simple budget helps with meeting one’s monthly financial obligations, it doesn’t include a plan to pay down debt, save money and invest for our future. So how do we include these things on an already tight budget? This takes a strategy.

It’s important to get this right because stewardship (how we manage the resources God gives us) has a spiritual component and determines the blessings we will receive in other areas of our life. Jesus said it this way in Luke 16:11-12: “And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” (NLT) Why is this so? Finances are a tangible example of how we manage and value the things God gives us. If we can’t faithfully manage our finances, why would God give us more of the things that really matter?

So how do we include a plan to pay down debt, save money and invest for our future. It’s called the 70% principle. The concept is to live off 70% of your income and budget the other 30% for three areas that will help you achieve financial peace. In this post we’ll look at the first area.

Budget the first 10% of your income for tithes. A tithe is 10% of our income that is given to God. But to do this you must decide who is going to drive your life. You must determine who or what are you living for.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (NLT) If we seek God above everything else then we will make tithing a priority.

Deuteronomy 14:23 gives us the reason why God established the tithe: “Doing this [tithing] will teach you always to fear the Lord your God.” (NLT) To fear the Lord means to revere him, respect him, or to honor him. When we give our tithe to the Lord, we show him respect and honor him as our provider.

We can see this concept of honoring God with our tithe in Proverbs 3:9-10 that says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. 10 Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.” (NLT) Verse 10 shows us that God blesses the finances of those that honor him with the tithe.

Malachi 3:10 captures this idea even further. It says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” (NLT)

This is the only place in the Bible where God asks us to test him. When we take God’s challenge and give him the tithe, he blesses us financially. This is the way God established it. When we honor him with our tithe, he blesses the remaining 90%.

Some say that tithing is not found in the New Testament, the part of the Bible that talks about Jesus. While it is true that the early Church practiced a form of extreme generosity (cf. Acts 2 and 5), 1 Corinthians 16:2 shows us that tithing was practiced by the church. It says, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” (ESV) Paul says, to set something aside and “store it up” That sounds like Malachi 3:10 that says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.” And Paul continues saying, “as he may prosper”. To give according to how you prosper is to give a percentage. It’s the same 10% but the amount you give varies on how much you earned.

So, are you tired of feeling as if your finances are out of control? Do you want to stop worrying if there will be enough in your bank account to cover your monthly expenses? Then set a budget, and budget the first 10% for God. You will honor him, and he will bless your remaining 90%. Try it. Put God to the test. It all starts here.