How to Increase Your Tithe to 10%

The average American is only giving 2% of their income to charity. Yet the Bible is clear that the tithe is 10%, your firstfruits (Leviticus 27:30).

Maybe tithing the full 10% is a new idea for you, but you don’t know how to get there. The idea of increasing your tithe probably sounds uncomfortable, especially in this time of economic inflation and recession where every dollar counts. But what’s at stake is your relationship with God and obedience to him.

If you’re not at that 10% level yet, here are some strategies to help you do just that:

Leverage Your Tax Return

Tax returns are wasted, rarely invested, and never given away. One simple way to increase your giving is to withhold less from your paycheck during the year. Let the government take as few taxes as possible. This means go back to your employer and adjust your W-4 form to allow for this.

If you set it so the government takes out fewer taxes, you’ll have more money to work with throughout the year. You won’t get a tax refund, but increasing your tithe to 10% will be a natural step with your extra cashflow.

Make Incremental Changes

Immediately jumping with both feet into tithing the full 10% is a radical change for most people. If you’re not able to get to that full 10% right now, I challenge you to make incremental changes in your finances so you can slowly increase your tithe.

What does this look like? Set a reminder on your calendar and phone to increase your tithe by 1% each month. I don’t know many families that couldn’t achieve this goal.

Making these incremental adjustments forces you to slowly make reductions in other areas like your spending, investing, or anything else that’s getting in the way of giving. With this strategy, you can go from giving 0% to tithing 10% in a less than a year.

Leverage Pay Raises

What about the scenario where you’ve worked hard and finally got that promotion you’ve been waiting for—but now what? When you get a pay raise, don’t raise your expectations, don’t raise your standard of living. Just be more efficient with the extra that’s coming in. A 6% pay increase means you can increase your giving by 3%, increase your lifestyle 2%, and save an additional 1%.

You can also follow this strategy for cost-of-living adjustments where you get a raise to keep up with the rising cost of living. Don’t increase your standard of living, just your standard of giving.

Summary

It’s my belief that your path of sanctification will be incomplete if you aren’t being generous to the work of the Gospel. This means giving the full 10% of your gross income to your local church, as commanded in Scripture. Then be open to other ways Christ is calling you to be generous. It’s been my experience that tithing lays the foundation for the rest of your generosity. As you consider how to increase your tithe, remember that the only reason you’re able to give back to God is because God first gave to you. He was first generous with you, giving you salvation. As you give, take time to thank him in humble recognition that all that you have is from him.