by Dr. Ralph Martin

I’d like to share a bit of my personal testimony with you.  When my wife and I got married, I only had a part-time job. I was digging sewer lines in Williamston, Michigan, and then we got hired at St. Mary’s Chapel, but not at a very high wage. My wife was a lab tech, but we were pregnant with our first baby and she was going to have to stop work, and we were wondering how this was going to work.

One day on her way home from the hospital, my wife stopped at the chapel and said, “I’m not leaving, Lord, until You let me know whether this is going to work out or not.”

I was back in our one-bedroom apartment praying the same prayer—“Lord, help, what is going to happen?”

I had this absolutely strong experience of God saying,

“I’m your Father; you can rely on Me.

You can trust Me.”

My wife got the same sense, so she came home and told me what she experienced, and I told her what I experienced. We didn’t know how it was all going to work, but we knew the Lord had assured us of His care.

Later, I remember praying on the floor of our apartment, which had hardly any furniture. I felt like the Lord told me, “I am going to give you a Scripture passage that you need to make the key Scripture passage of your life.”

It was Luke 12:28-31: “Unbelievers are always worried about what they’re going to eat, what they’re going to wear, what the future’s going to bring, and I say to you, seek first the kingdom of God and his holiness and these other things will be added as well, because your heavenly father knows you need them.”

This is not the prosperity Gospel. This is not the promise of getting a Cadillac or a Mercedes. This is a promise that God the Father is going to give us what we need to carry out the mission for which He created us.

I can’t tell you enough how important it is to take seriously these words of Jesus: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His holiness, and these other things will be added as well.”

If you put the first things in the first place, the second things are going to work out really well. If you try to put a second thing in the first place, there’s going to be tremendous strain and frustration, and it’s not going to work.

Let me tell you how my wife and I started to deal with the question of tithing. In the Old Testament, you had to give the first ten percent of your income, of the produce of your fields, to the Lord. It is not a requirement in the New Testament.

But in the New Testament, an even greater price has been paid for us; a greater deed has been done for us—Jesus’ death on the cross—so generous giving is encouraged.

When my wife and I got married, we had few worldly possessions. We shared one very used car with three other couples. We didn’t have a lot, but we started tithing—giving ten percent, with half for the parishes we attended, half for causes we believed in, and then giving alms. We were just trying to pass on what the Lord was giving to us, and that has been our practice for over forty years.

Sometimes in the early days, when we’d be serving meals, we’d be concerned about not having enough food—and honestly, the food was multiplying!

How is this possible? It’s knowing the Father’s love. It’s gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice and wanting to follow His teaching.

Jesus says, “Do not be afraid any longer little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide moneybags for yourself that do not wear out—an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy, for where your treasure is so also will your heart be” (Lk 12:32-34).

St. Francis DeSales has tremendous wisdom about how to make this concrete: How do you know you’re not fooling yourself about your relationship to money? How do you know you’re letting Jesus really be Lord of your finances? He talks about some of the ways we can deceive ourselves in this area and some practical steps we can take to keep turning this area over to the Lord.

The first thing he says is waiting until you have enough is a delusion. You’re never going to feel like you have enough. He says start where you are, being generous with what you have. The second thing he recommends is asking yourself what happens when you lose money.

Do you freak out? Do you feel like the end of the world has come? What happens to your heart? Are you so attached to money that it’s disturbing your whole life—or can you move beyond it, trusting that the Lord will provide?

He says if you find your heart very desolated and afflicted at the loss of money, you love it too much. The strongest proof of love for a lost object is suffering over its loss. Instead, accept your losses meekly, patiently, and avail yourself of the opportunity to live more simply. The Apostle Paul said, “I know how to handle the want and I know how to handle abundance. I know how to abase and I know how to abound” (Phil 4:12).

We need to have a certain detachment and freedom about leaving our money in God’s hands. Talking about disciples, St. Catherine of Sienna said, “The Lord gives a lot of money to people He knows can handle it well. And if He’s not giving you a lot of money, maybe it’s for the good of your soul, maybe He knows you couldn’t handle it well.”

Scripture also has advice to people who are wealthy: “Tell those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be proud, and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth. Let them trust in the God who provides us richly with all things for our use. Charge them to do good, to be rich in good works, and generously sharing what they have, thus they will build a secure foundation for the future, for receiving that life which is life indeed” (1 Tm 6).

You can’t outdo the Lord in generosity. I can’t tell you how much the Lord has blessed us like He says He will bless those who follow Him. I’d recommend if you’re not already tithing to start doing it, even if you hardly have any money, and see what the Lord will do.

Dr. Ralph Martin is the President of Renewal Ministries and the Director of Programs of Evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.  This article is excerpted from Renewal Ministries Newsletter (Nov 2016) and used with permission.