Increasing Your Cash Flow the Old Fashioned Way

Laying a Foundation

I've been trying to set up a budget. Lately it seems that I've been running full speed with a foundation when it comes to money. No foundation except for faith that everything will work out. That's not a good plan I admit but it is an easy one.

I'm an impulsive person by nature. Yet I rarely often feel free to spend. This puts me in a huge bind from time to time. I've missed out on some great things because of my conflict. But perhaps it's all for the good. It has also kept me out of trouble. My conflict lies mainly in not allowing cash to flow. I have no problem with seeing In-come, it's the Out-go that I almost always struggle with.

So I've decided to do some budgeting to see the where and when of my cashflow. Something that came up recently was the topic of the tithe. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, first by finding my mother's Bible marked at Deuteronomy 14:22- the law of tithing. Then I found my giving growing and my income growing with it. Finally, this Sunday a talk on Job diverted to a discussion of the tithe. I just happened to have my Mom's bible with me and I joined the conversation. It was a weird synchronicity. I get that a lot.

The Concept of the Tithe

The tithe is the custom of people of Jewish-Christian faith to give a percentage of their earnings back to God. It came about in the life experiences of the Old Testament patriarchs. It was then codified in the Old Testament Law and carried through to New Testament believers.

I have seen tithing viewed variously as a literal tenth of a person's gross income or as a tenth of their hourly wage. Whichever manner you view it as, one tenth is the figure that is worked with. There are reasons for the tithe that are explained in scriptures.

What started as a bargain with God ended in a promise from Him. In the Book of Genesis we have the story of Jacob stealing the blessing of Isaac, his father, from his brother Esau. Once he did that he had to live on the run in fear of his brother's wrath. In chapter 28, after his dream of the ladder with angels ascending and descending upon it, he begs for God's favor and makes a vow to give a tenth of all he attains back to God.