John Morimoto sits down with Pastor Dave about Tithing, Alignment, and Living Below Your Means. Tithing – it’s is not about transaction—it’s about trust. When we surrender our resources, align our priorities, and live below our means, we begin to experience the freedom and faithfulness of a God who provides more than enough.
Trust, Alignment, and Living Below Your Means
Tithing is one of the most practical—and revealing—spiritual disciplines in the life of a follower of Jesus. It isn’t a financial strategy or a church “donation.” It’s an act of obedience and trust—a prophetic declaration that God owns everything and that we believe He will provide for all our needs.
When we give our first and best to God, we aren’t trying to get something from Him; we’re offering something to Him. Jesus said in Matthew 6:25–26, “Do not worry about your life… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap… yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Tithing reminds us that provision comes not from our striving but from His faithfulness.
In a culture obsessed with achievement, performance, and accumulation, tithing becomes countercultural—a tangible way to resist the world’s pull and realign our hearts. Like Sabbath or Fasting, it reorders our desires and reminds us that our security lies not in what we earn but in who we belong to.
Scripture reinforces this in Malachi 3:10, where God says, “Test me in this… and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven.” This isn’t a promise of prosperity—it’s an invitation to faith. The question beneath it all is: Do we trust God enough to let Him lead our finances?
This same principle of trust extends to how we order our entire lives. In what I call the Principle of Alignment, our priorities should follow this order:
Child of God → Spouse → Parent → Child → Sibling → Occupation.
When this alignment slips—when we place our children, careers, or achievements above our relationship with God—we lose the spiritual rhythm that sustains us. Jesus’ words about “storing up treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19–21) remind us that eternal priorities always begin with identity: knowing who we are in Him before defining what we do for Him.
One of the most practical ways to express that alignment is through stewardship—how we manage what God entrusts to us. A simple yet profound principle of financial wisdom is this: live below your means.
In an economy built on consumption, this may sound radical, but it’s deeply biblical. Living below your means is an act of gratitude and humility. It resists the constant pressure to spend more, accumulate more, and define yourself by what you have. Proverbs 21:20 says, “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.”
Avoid debt for depreciating things. Don’t let lifestyle grow with income. Instead, cultivate margin—space that allows you to be generous, free, and responsive to God’s call.
Ultimately, whether through tithing, alignment, or stewardship, the lesson is the same: trust the Lord with all your heart. He doesn’t just provide what we need—He shapes who we become.