Tithing - Three More Reasons

In his October, 2001 General Conference talk, "Like a Watered Garden," Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a number of good reasons to pay a full tithe, and the promise of blessings was only one of those reasons. Today, I'd like to relay three more good reasons that Elder Holland gave.

One reason is to declare to the Lord and to ourselves that the accumulation of worldly wealth is not the most important thing in our lives. The world sees money as something of great value - something to work for, fight over, and horde. From a mortal perspective, money is useful, valuable, and even vital. It's with money that we are able to buy our basic necessities, such as food, clothing, and shelter. But once our needs are met, do we really need more money?

Greed is a vice that gets many people to shift their priorities in the wrong direction. Rather than focussing on the true purpose of life, some people spend all the time and energy they can trying to amass more money, just to leave it all behind when they die. When we pay tithing, we remind ourselves that some things are more important than money, and it the world we live in, that reminder can be necessary from time to time.

Another reason Elder Holland gave to pay our tithing was because that money (and everything else we have, really) legitimately belongs to God. He made the Earth and is merely letting us borrow it. Through tithing, He asks that we give ten percent of whatever we get out of the earth back to Him. In reality, He's being more than fair.

I heard a story of a man who felt that he rightfully owned and had personally earned all that he possessed, so that it all belonged to him and him alone. But another man asked him where he got the strength and energy to work for what he had. He said something about fruits and vegetables. "But who grew the vegetables?" the other man asked. "Farmers," the first man replied. "Yes," said the other, "they tended the plants. But who made the plants grow?" God made the sunshine, sent the rain, and gave the plants the ability and desire to grow. All that we have or could ever have on earth rightfully belongs to God. So when He asks for His ten percent, we owe Him at least that much. In fact, we owe Him everything.

The third and last reason I wish to share is closely related to the previous one. Actually, it's so closely related to the previous reason that I think I'll lump the two together and share a different third reason instead. The original third reason was gratitude, a way to thank God for His many blessings. The new third reason is to share the wealth.

When we give money to the church, it doesn't just go into massive bank accounts and sit there and rot. It goes back out into the world and does and incredible amount of good. Feeding the poor, helping people recover from natural and other disasters, and spreading the good news of the gospel to all the world, is made possible only through generous contributions through tithes and offerings. When we find that our needs are met and we have a little surplus, while we know that others are still in want, we should do what we can to help them. Now, this is easy for me to say because I don't make much money, so I don't donate much or often, but I do pay my tithing, and my tithing does some good. I'm grateful that God, through the church, has given me an easy way to help others.

We all have blessings which we got from God, and God only asks us to share a portion of the blessings that He has given us for free. It's our responsibility as those who are blessed to go and bless others. Our tithes and offerings give us a convenient way to do that.