Hales - Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings - October 2002

Elder Hales speaks about the law of tithing and the need for people to sacrifice.  Offering a sacrifice of tithing helps us understand the dependence we have on the Lord for all things in our lives.  Tithing is such an important lesson that entrance into the temple is based on our obedience to this law.

• Tithing has been established in these latter days as an essential law for members of the Lord’s restored Church. It is one of the basic ways we witness our faith in Him and our obedience to His laws and commandments. Tithing is one of the commandments that qualifies us, by our faith, to enter the temple—the house of the Lord.
  

To pay our tithing take faith.  It requires that we rely on the Lord for what we have been given and will be given.

• Tithing develops and tests our faith. By sacrificing to the Lord what we may think we need or want for ourselves, we learn to rely on Him. Our faith in Him makes it possible to keep temple covenants and receive eternal temple blessings.

There are several things that tithing teaches us.

• The obedient payment of tithing fortifies our faith, and that faith sustains us through the trials, tribulations, and sorrows in our life’s journey.
  
• Tithing also teaches us to control our desires and passions for the things of this world. Payment of tithing encourages us to be honest in our dealings with our fellowmen. We learn to trust that what we have been given, through the blessings of the Lord and our own diligent efforts, is sufficient for our needs.
  
• Tithing has a special purpose as a preparatory law. Early in this dispensation, the Lord commanded certain members of the Church to live the higher law of consecration—a law received by covenant. When this covenant was not kept, great tribulations came upon the Saints. The law of consecration was then withdrawn. In its place the Lord revealed the law of tithing for the whole Church.
  
• The law of tithing prepares us to live the higher law of consecration—to dedicate and give all our time, talents, and resources to the work of the Lord. Until the day when we are required to live this higher law, we are commanded to live the law of the tithe, which is to freely give one-tenth of our income annually.

Elder Hales asks us a question that if answered honestly, puts tithing into the right perspective.  The Lord has promised us great blessings by paying our tithing and not doing it hurts us and shows a lack of faith on our part.

• Would any of us intentionally reject an outpouring of blessings from the Lord? Sadly, this is what we do when we fail to pay our tithing. We say no to the very blessings we are seeking and praying to receive. If you are one who has doubted the blessings of tithing, I encourage you to accept the Lord’s invitation to “prove [Him] now herewith.” Pay your tithing. Unlock the windows of heaven. You will be abundantly blessed for your obedience and faithfulness to the Lord’s laws and commandments.

Tithing is an equal law for all of us.  Rich or pour, we are all treated equally.  We might give more than someone else, but the percent is the same for each.  We can have assurance that the blessings are also equally distributed by the Lord.

• Be assured that these blessings are poured out equally upon rich and poor alike. As the hymn says, it is “sacrifice [that] brings forth the blessings of heaven,” not the sum of our contributions. Members who freely give a full 10 percent of their annual income receive all of the promised blessings of tithing, whether the amount is a widow’s mite or a king’s ransom.

Elder Hales concludes with the words of Joseph Smith about sacrifice.

• The eternal blessings of tithing are real. I have experienced them in my life and in the life of my family. The test of our faith is whether we will live the law of tithing by our obedience and sacrifice. For, in the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.”
  

He ends with this testimony and shares gratitude for the sacrifices he knows we all make when paying our tithing.

• I testify that the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed His life to bring this salvation to each of us. As His special witness, I testify that He lives. And on His behalf, I express gratitude to you, the children, the widows, the youth, the families—the faithful—for your sacred tithes.

Tithing offers blessings beyond our understanding.  There are countless examples of people that have given to the Lord and received blessings beyond their understanding in return.  The Lord truly asks so little from us for the abundant blessings that he provides.  I would encourage all of us to test this law of God.  Try Him and see if His promises are sure.  You will discover that His promises are there for everyone to have.