4259 — PAYING TITHE AND DEBTS
By James White
If a man is in debt, does God require him to pay tithe on every dollar he earns? Is he lost if he does not pay tithe? God's requirements never impede our progress under any conditions, but are always helpful; and if a man is in debt, the best way for him to get from under the unenviable load is to be faithful in carrying out all of his convictions toward God. Read the wonderful promise which God presents to all who are faithful to Him in the matter of tithing. He says: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 3: 10-12. In the face of promises of this character, can we not see that faithfulness in tithing is one of the greatest helps that we can lay hold upon in relieving ourselves from the burden of debts? It would not be proper to single out any one of the requirements of God and say that we will be lost if we do not do that particular thing. Our views of the moral uprightness into which the Bible seeks to lead us are circumscribed when we think that an individual can be perfect in all his life and yet be lacking in just one point. If we stumble over obedience to any one of God's requirements, we open the way for a flood of other wrong things that we will be doing, even though unconsciously to ourselves. When we break down any one moral barrier, or moral obligation, we carry a great many others with it.