The Law of Tithing

Several years ago, I had someone tell me that if she had to sit through another Relief Society lesson about the blessings of tithing, she might actually get up and leave. She said was so tired of hearing all the blessings other people were receiving while she had always paid her tithing and had never received one blessing for doing so. I was shocked! Actually, I was speechless for a minute! (And that doesn't happen often.) She then recounted all the unfair things that had happened in her life and the all the struggles she had faced, lamenting that she had been left out of any of the blessings other people had received from faithfully paying their tithing during their challenges. When she finished her little tirade, I told that I had never experienced any of the miraculous things that some people experience either. But I gently reminded her that we are blessed for our obedience and maybe sometimes there are blessings we just don't recognize. She wasn't buying that either. I walked away actually feeling sad that she was so bitter about such a beautifully simple principle of the gospel.

It seemed to me that this woman got caught up in the words and not the meaning of the scripture found in Malachi that says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Because she had no physical proof of overflowing blessings, she felt the Lord was not blessing her at all.

What I had hoped but failed to covey to this woman was beautifully taught to us all In October 2013 by David A. Bednar. He said:

"Often as we teach and testify about the law of tithing, we emphasize the immediate, dramatic, and readily recognizable temporal blessings that we receive. And surely such blessings do occur. Yet some of the diverse blessings we obtain as we are obedient to this commandment are significant but subtle. Such blessings can be discerned only if we are both spiritually attentive and observant.

"Eyes and ears of faith are required, however, to notice in us an increased spiritual and temporal capacity to do more with less, a keener ability to prioritize and simplify, and an enhanced ability to take proper care of the material possessions we already have acquired. We might want and expect a larger paycheck, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.

"I testify that as we are spiritually attentive and observant, we will be blessed with eyes that see more clearly, ears that hear more consistently, and hearts that understand more fully the significance and subtlety of His ways, His thoughts, and His blessings in our lives."1

In Chapter 9, The Law of Tithing, Howard W. Hunter reminds us that paying tithing "teaches us to put the Lord first in our lives. We may not be asked to sacrifice our homes or our lives, as was the case with the early Saints. We are challenged today to overcome our selfishness. We pay tithing because we love the Lord, not because we have the means to do so."

Speaking about his family's paying tithing, Gordon B. Hinckley said, "We did not do it with the expectation of material blessings, although we can testify that we have been so blessed. The Lord has opened the windows of heaven and poured out his blessings in marvelous measure. I am satisfied that he will bless all who walk in obedience to this commandment. Now, do not get me wrong. I am not here to say that if you pay an honest tithing you will realize your dream of a fine house, a Rolls Royce, and a condominium in Hawaii. The Lord will open the windows of heaven according to our need, and not according to our greed. If we are paying tithing to get rich, we are doing it for the wrong reason."2

Robert D. Hales said, "The commandment to pay tithing requires temporal sacrifice, which ultimately yields great spiritual blessings."3 And James E. Faust taught, "Although tithing carries with it both temporal and spiritual blessings, the only absolute promise to the faithful is 'ye shall have the riches of eternity.'"4

Here are two beautiful examples of women who truly understood the law of tithing. The first is shared by President Hunter in the lesson. It is a story of Mary Fielding Smith, the widow of Hyrum Smith.

"One spring as the family opened their potato pits, she had her sons get a load of the best potatoes to take to the tithing office. She was met at the steps of the office by one of the clerks, who [protested] as the boys began to unload the potatoes. 'Widow Smith,' he said, remembering no doubt her trials and sacrifices, 'it’s a shame that you should have to pay tithing.' He … chided her for paying her tithing, and called her anything but wise and prudent. …The little widow drew herself up to her full height and said, 'William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing I should expect the Lord to withhold His blessings from me; I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to prosper and to be able to provide for my family.'

The second story is a very similar experience which Dallin H. Oaks had as a young boy. He shared this in April 1994 LDS General Conference:

"During World War II, my widowed mother supported her three young children on a schoolteacher’s salary that was meager. When I became conscious that we went without some desirable things because we didn’t have enough money, I asked my mother why she paid so much of her salary as tithing. I have never forgotten her explanation: 'Dallin, there might be some people who can get along without paying tithing, but we can’t. The Lord has chosen to take your father and leave me to raise you children. I cannot do that without the blessings of the Lord, and I obtain those blessings by paying an honest tithing. When I pay my tithing, I have the Lord’s promise that he will bless us, and we must have those blessings if we are to get along.'"5

Compare these two experiences with the experience I shared first. What was it that these two young widows understood that the acquaintance of mine did not? I think that answer is easily found in the following quotes from Heber J. Grant.

“I bear witness—and I know that the witness I bear is true—that the men and the women who have been absolutely honest with God, who have paid their tithing, … God has given them wisdom whereby they have been able to utilize the remaining nine-tenths, and it has been of greater value to them, and they have accomplished more with it than they would if they had not been honest with the Lord.”5

“I appeal to the Latter-day Saints to be honest with the Lord and I promise them that peace, prosperity and financial success will attend those who are honest with our Heavenly Father. … When we set our hearts upon the things of this world and fail to be strictly honest with the Lord we do not grow in the light and power and strength of the gospel as we otherwise would do.”5

"Prosperity comes to those who observe the law of tithing. When I say prosperity I am not thinking of it in terms of dollars and cents alone. … What I count as real prosperity … is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind.”4

Adding to those incredible promised blessings, this powerful blessing was given by President Hunter in his April 1964 general conference talk:

"If we pay our tithes because of our love for the Lord, in complete freedom and faith, we narrow our distance from him and our relationship to him becomes intimate. We are touched by the spirit and feel a oneness with God."

In that same address, President Hunter also taught that "the payment of tithing strengthens faith, increases spirituality and spiritual capacity, and solidifies testimony. We cannot afford to deny ourselves these blessings. We cannot afford not to pay our tithing. What we give, and how we give, and the way we meet our obligations to the Lord has eternal significance. A testimony of the law of tithing comes from living it."

Clearly the blessings received from willingly and faithfully living the law of tithing are many. "Like all of the Lord’s commandments and laws," President Hunter reminded us, "the law of tithing is simple if we have a little faith." Gordon B. Hinckley said it so profoundly when he said, "While tithing is paid with money, more importantly it is paid with faith. I have never met an individual who paid an honest tithe who complained about it. Rather, he put his trust in the Lord, and the Lord never failed him."6

I had an epiphany as I was reading this lesson. Yes, blessings are received, seen and unseen, from faithfully paying our tithing. But sometimes other people are the recipients of those blessings. Howard W. Hunter taught that "it is not a burden to pay tithing, but a great privilege. The blessings of the gospel are shared with many through our tithes." And Gordon B. Hinckley said, "The basic purpose for tithing is to provide the Church with the means needed to carry on His work."2

If we do not yet have a testimony of living the law of tithing, we would be wise to begin today, exercising our faith to live this divine law and see how willing the Lord is to open the blessings of heaven to us individually and as a Church.