SHOW / EPISODE

How to Tithe When You Can't Afford It

Episode 30
16m | Oct 1, 2026

Tithing 10% of your income sounds crazy until you realize none of it was ever really yours to begin with.


This one is just the two of us, working through what The Treasure Principle Bible study is doing to our hearts, our budget, and our bank account anxiety. Because most people want to be generous, they just don't feel like they can afford it yet.


So we get honest about what changed. The 10% pay cut question that reframed tithing for us, and what it forced us to look at in our spending. Why 10% makes you feel it at every income level, even through a layoff year. What it means to steward money that was never ours, instead of acting like the CEO of it. Why Malia calls the tithe "the bare minimum," and what she means. How a guy who thinks in investments learned to see generosity as one, with a return we can't outlive. And the difference between a want and a need in a house with four kids in a consumer-everything world.


If you want to give but you just don't feel like you can yet, this one is for you. It was never about the math.


In the episode we mention a family assessment with a QR code on screen. Here's the link: https://www.ourhouse.faith/assessment


CHAPTERS

00:00 Money fights, and what ended ours

02:02 What a Bible study did to our budget

02:28 Everything is God's, even the scary parts

04:59 Not the CEO of the money

05:45 The 10% pay cut question

08:03 An investment with infinite return

11:35 "The tithe is the bare minimum"

12:28 Tithing 10% when the math doesn't work

13:44 Wants, needs, and the consumer trap


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn

Our episode with Ashton, the young Bible student who followed God to Peru


FREE FROM US

Join the Peaceful Home Challenge waitlist: https://ourhouse.faith/challenge/#waitlist

Take our 4-minute family assessment: https://ourhouse.faith/assessment

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ourhousefaith

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmylies


Sponsorship: info@ourhouse.faith


We're Jason and Malia. Four boys, almost 16 years married, helping families bring God to the center of their home every week.


As for our house, we will serve the Lord. Inspired by Joshua 24:15

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Our House with The Smylies
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