Tithe vs Taxes

I have JUST completed my Federal and State tax forms for 2014.  I typically compute my % of Fed taxes paid.  This year, we paid ~10% of our income in Federal taxes.  That % is substantially lower than my charitable giving for the year.  I want it that way.  But it didn’t dawn until me later that I also pay:

• State taxes
• Social Security tax
• Sales tax

When you add those in, I paid more to the government than I gave to G^d.  Hmmm.  Sad.

Scripture is quite clear, we ought to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to G^d, what is G^d’s.  We have been bought with a price by G^d himself. Part of giving ourselves to Him is to give him a tithe of our finances.  Part of giving ourselves to Him is to give him a tithe of our time, energy, attention.

So, besides looking at the financial side, we ought also to take a look at the personal side.

How much of ourselves are we giving to Him?