Dear Dave: My wife and I are currently on Baby Step 2 of your plan. We attend church regularly, and we’ve always made sure we tithed 10 percent to 15 percent in the past. Do you think it would be OK to lower our tithe while we’re getting out of debt and working through our debt snowball? — Karl

Dear Karl: When you look up the Hebrew word “tithe,” it means tenth. Not 10 to 15 percent — a tenth. I’ve studied Scripture on this subject for about 25 years and taught in Christian settings. But please keep in mind you shouldn’t do this because I gave you a “rule.” I’m not the final authority on this. What we’re about to get into comes from God.

In Proverbs, it refers to the tithe as first fruits, off the top, before anything else. The book of Deuteronomy says to give a tenth of your net increase. Centuries of protestant Christian teaching has focused on the idea that the tithe goes to the local church, because it’s the New Testament representation of the Old Testament storehouse. The storehouse took care of the Levites, which were the priests — or pastors — and the orphans and widows. Today, the New Testament church is supposed to use it for the same kinds of things: pastor’s salaries and helping people who are struggling.

Before we go any further, I want you to remember one thing. Tithing isn’t a salvation issue. God doesn’t love you more just because you tithe a larger amount than the person sitting next to you in church. God loves you. Period. You’re His child, and He’s going to love you even if you don’t tithe. But He knows what tithing does for us. It makes us focus on something other than ourselves. Doing it makes us less selfish, and more selfless. It makes us a little more Christ-like. And he wants us to be giving and loving to the people around us.

Do you see what I’m saying, Karl? God doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t need my money. It was my choice decades ago when I hit bottom financially to continue tithing all the way into bankruptcy court and all the way out. But if someone literally can’t afford to tithe for some reason — or can’t hit 10 percent and still wants to attend and support a church — I’m pretty sure God understands. — Dave

Dear Dave: I have a money market account that I use as both my checking and savings account. I have a debit card and check writing privileges with the account, and I get a better interest rate on my money. Is what I’m doing a good idea, or is it better for some reason to have separate savings and checking accounts? — Bonnie

Dear Bonnie: It’s always good to have a physical and emotional boundary between your savings and the everyday funds in your checking account. This is especially important when you’re talking about savings or an emergency fund.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with getting a better interest rate, but when everything is all lumped together it can become easy for the line between savings and checking to become blurred. And if you’re not careful, you might find yourself dipping into your savings or emergency fund for things that aren’t emergencies without realizing what you’re doing. — Dave

Dear Dave: My husband and I have been blessed financially in our work and in our lives. We simply love working, money aside, even though we could both easily retire and be very comfortable. These feelings have made me think a lot lately about what’s really important in life. How do you balance ambition with contentment? — Barb

Dear Barb: I get the feeling you thought ambition was the opposite of contentment. But I don’t look at it that way. It’s not like a teeter-totter. They don’t have to balance out, because they’re not on the same spectrum.

I’m content and ambitious. I’m content with what we have and what God has entrusted to us. But I’m not content to sit around and do nothing just because we’ve been blessed. That kind of attitude isn’t contentment. It’s apathy. I do what I do because I love helping people. You can have peace and contentment, and still be ambitious. They’re not inconsistent concepts.

In my mind, problems are created when ambitious people are driven by a lack of contentment. Let me ask you something. Do you think Jesus was content? Do you think He was ambitious? I believe the answer to both questions is yes. Just think about how He lived, and how He instructed us to live. Think about His mission and His purpose.

More than anything, I think it has to do with what’s driving your ambition. If a desire for “stuff” is the motivating factor, then maybe they are on the same spectrum. But that’s a really bad way to live your life. You can buy and pile up tons of stuff, but you’re not going to be truly happy until you find contentment. — Dave

Dave Ramsey is the founder and CEO of the company Ramsey Solutions. He’s also host of The Ramsey Show.