Blessings Worth Their Cost

Elder Stanley G. Ellis's talk, Do We Trust Him? Hard Is Good, was not about tithing, but in it, he posed a question that one would do well to consider if they feel that they may be too poor to pay tithing:

Do we have the faith to trust His promises regarding tithing that with 90 percent of our increase plus the Lord’s help, we are better off than with 100 percent on our own?

Of course, it is difficult to have that much faith, and if one's finances are especially tight, it may feel like they need every penny they can hold on to. But God does not ask us to make sacrifices without offering us something in return. In return for a tenth part of our increase, the Lord has promised to open the windows of Heaven and pour out such great blessings, we won't even have enough room to receive them all (Malachi 3:10). I can't say exactly what form(s) those blessings will take, but I can say that they are certainly going to be worth their cost. Ten percent is a sizable chunk of one's income, but the Lord's blessings are worth far more than that.

I used to think that you can't buy miracles. Either God is going to bless you, or He won't; you can't bribe Him. However, that may not be strictly true. Paying tithing with the knowledge that God will bless us for doing so is kind of like buying those blessings. Sure, the exact blessings we get are unpredictable, so it'll kind of like buying a mystery pack of blessings, but they're always worth the cost. Plus, buying blessings seems like such a novel concept, and it's kind of exciting to pay tithing and see what kinds of blessings you get from it.

For those not brought up with the habit of paying tithing, I can understand why it would be difficult. Ten percent of one's income can be a lot of money. But what we get in return for that investment is priceless. The blessings of heaven are worth far more than what we're asked to pay for them. It's a good deal. Plus, like Elder Ellis suggested, we are fare better of with 90% of our increase and God's help than we are with 100% of our increase on our own. I, for one, know that I need God's help in my life. I'd gladly just buy those blessings, if I could. So, given that paying tithing is kind of like buying blessings, I'm happy to do so. God's blessings are worth far more than ten percent of my income to me.