Good Steward

Tithing: Giving 10% of my gross income to the Church.
10% doesn't sound like much at first, until you put it into practice and find yourself writing a check every two weeks for that 10%. You start thinking about all the things you could buy with that money: the extras you are doing without, the unexpected expenses it would cover, the trips you could take, the exam materials for your job you could buy, etc.
You even find yourself saying, well I would like to contribute money to the insurance program at my former college and since that is charitable giving, I can just not tithe that particular paycheck and use that money for the insurance program. God won't mind; it's a good cause. It's an all too familar little voice, and it belongs to the devil. While it's true, that is a good cause, it's not "kindgom building" money. The professor of that program does not even believe in Jesus Christ. She thinks Buddha is the end all and be all. She wonders why life is so hard and why she is unhappy and she still thinks the Buddha she wears around her neck (that idol) has any power to make her life any better, any more fulfilled, any more peaceful. Sad.
The major point is that tithing is one of the easiest ways to find out what people believe about God. Do they really have faith? Do they really trust Him to provide for them when they give up all that additional money every month? Do they really believe that God will bless that money and that its use will be better than anything they could do with it? Do they really believe He will bless their efforts tenfold as He promises to do?
Look at what people spend their money on and you will see what kind of person you are dealing with. Is it all about the latest technology? the fanciest cars? the nicest houses? Is it all about cheap thrills on a Friday night?
Or is it about making the lives of others better, easier? Simplifying: appreciating more and having less? Learning to be satisfied with less stuff to bless the lives of others more?
I recently started my adult career in January and have just very recently started tithing. One of the hardest things I've ever done in my walk with God is writing that check and dropping that money in the collection plate every two weeks when I get paid. It is a perpetual dying to one's self and choosing God and His ways above my own. When you start talking money with people, you are hitting them where they live. I've never even considered myself to be a materialistic, money-grubbing sort of person so I've been surprised at how difficult I've found this to be.
What I try to do is remind myself that this money is not mine. It has never belonged to me. It's always been God's money and for me to withhold it from Him is to steal from the Kingdom of God. When I take my last breath here and go back home, I do not want to explain to Him why it is I decided to steal from the Kingdom of God. I don't want to say, well, God, you see: I needed those books for my professional designation, and I needed to fly to Chicago to visit my friend, and I had to get work done on my car, and I had to have my fillings replaced, and I needed a new TV, and I wanted a bike so that's why the missionaries didn't get sent and that's why the children weren't fed, and that's why X number of people perished without ever knowing you.
He will say that is why you had more and enjoyed less and that's why your faith couldn't move mountains and why you never experienced true peace. That's why you never really experienced the intimate relationship with me I intended you to have. You didn't trust me with your everything, so there is no way I could give you the abundant life I came to earth and died on the cross that you might enjoy.
The truth is that every monetary benefit I experience is a direct result of the blessings which God bestows upon me. The reason why I'm as financially stable as I am is solely because God has seen fit to bless me. God tells us that those who can be trusted with little will be given much and those who cannot be trusted with little, even what they have will be taken from them. That doesn't mean that some months you won't be scraping by. I promise you, you will. It simply means that your Heavenly Father will provide for you and always has your best interests at heart. Your needs will always be met, even if you don't always think they are. After all, God has a really different perspective than we do on what we need. The difference is he actually knows what we need.
If you really believe that giving 10% of your income to God is going to break you financially, you might want to re-evaluate where the other 90% is going.