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service of God. Once a person
determines to step out in faith, he
finds God has given a promise to
those who obey him and practice
tithing.
A Partnership with God
Notice it: "Bring ye aJI the t ithes
into the storehouse ... and prove
me now herewith, saith the Lord of
hosts, if 1 wiJI not open you the
windows of heaven, and pour you
out a blessing, that there shall not
be room enough to receive it"
(Mal. 3:10). You see, tithing estab–
lishes you in partnership with God.
1f you provide for his work, God
will see to it your needs are pro–
vided for. God will bless you and
help you.
But, you must do your part. You
must establish good work habits
and practice good work ethics.
These are essential ingredients to
success in your employment. A
person who trusts in God ought to
be the best possible example of an
employee or businessman. He
should be industrious, dependable,
hardworking.
By combining the principies of
diligent work and faithfully trusting
God, you establish the basis for
steady employment and receive the
benefit of God's special direction.
Tithing Teaches Budgeting
The word
budget
means propor–
tioning your income into a series of
categories. Think of it as a percent–
age of the money you have avail–
able. The first 1
O
percent of your
increase is God's. The remaining
90 percent can now be allocated.
But how much and for what?
There are two categories into
which you must divide yo ur
budget. The first area we will- call
FIXED EXPENSES.
Fixed expenses
are those that will come every
rnonth and will be about the same
each month. Second, there are
VARIABLE EXPENSES.
You Can also
call these funds
DISCRETIONARY
MONEYS.
These are expenses we
will all have, but the amount we
spend from month to month might
vary considerably.
A fixed expense such as your
monthly mortgage payment or
renta! payment will usually not sig–
nificantly change. Other sucb fixed
expenses will be cost of utilities-
24
especially heating costs in winter–
telephone, food, household ex–
penses and transportation.
After your tithes and offerings,
there is a part of the budget over
which you have little control :
TAXES.
The government has to
function and has chosen to operate
on a percentage of each wage earn–
er's or businessman's incorne. In
most nations taxes are withheld
befare you even receive your pay.
In addition to taxes, there are
other funds that are withheld from
your check. These include payment
into a social welfare or social secu–
rity fund, pension plans, required
insurance, sometimes union dues
and other smaller amounts. Since
they are withheld, you have practi–
cally no control over them. But
''
The Western world
enjoyed unparalleled
prosperity from the end of
World War 11 until recent
times.... You need to
gear down now for
changes in your standard
of living.
''
they must be calculated into your
budget.
The three largest expenses most
families incur are the cost of hous–
ing, the cost of food and in north–
ern climates the cost of home heat–
ing. In sorne cases, there will be
little left after these majar items.
Most families will find that food
and housing will consume just
more than half their budgetary
allocation.
In our modero world, a majority
of families purchase and operate at ·
least one autornobile as a principal
means of transportation. Sorne
fami lies may be able to rely on pub–
líe transportation such as buses or
subway systems to provide a por–
tian of their transportation needs.
The transportation cost will also be
a fairly fixed expense. A budget
must be establisbed for fuel and
maintenance cost of an automobile
or for the fares for transportation.
Another fixed expense is insur–
ance. Most families carry sorne
form of life insurance, health and
accident insurance, homeowners' or
renters' insurance, and autornobile
insurance. In a number of nations,
many of these insurance items are
provided by the state and are part
of the system of taxation one is
charged in that nation. In other
nations, insurance is a prívate mat–
ter and must be paid for separately.
Many employers will provide insur–
ance prograrns to employees and
will at least cover life insurance as
well as healtb and accident insur–
ance. Once establíshed, tbis area
will be part of the fixed budgetary
allocation of a fami ly.
The variable expenses are simply
what the narne implies. There are a
variety of budget areas that are
determined by a family's needs and
based upon the arnount of money
available for such variable expenses
once the fixed expenses have been
budgeted.
Variable expenses include the
cost of clothing-certainly a neces–
sity- but usually not allocated on a
monthly basis. In addition there is
expense for entertainment, recrea–
tion, vacation and travel, savings,
gifts and personal allowances.
Tbe accompanying pie chart will
give you an idea how these
expenses are broken down in an
average or typical U.S. farnily.
Remember, your budget per–
centages may vary considerably
from these. Once you determine
how you're spending your money,
use the blank pie chart to fill in
your personal budgetary expenses.
It will help you see how you com–
pare to the average and will help
you evaluate if you need to make
changes.
Where ls lt Going Now?
Befare you can fill in your own
chart, you have to know how you
spend your income. Most of us
have said more than one time, "l
just don't know where it all goes."
Or, "How come my outgo always
exceeds my income?" Or, "I just
can't seem to make ends meet."
The first thing you must do to
manage successfully the 90 percent
of your income after tithes is to
(Continued on page 29)
The
PLAIN TRUTH