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Prosperity
Chapter 9
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[Prosperity]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Lesson Nine
Tithing, the Road to Prosperity
AS YE abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and
knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in your love to us,
see that ye abound in this grace also."
"Honor Jehovah with thy substance,
And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
And thy vats shall overflow with new wine."
Under the Mosaic law a tithe (or tenth) was required as the
Lord's portion. Throughout the Old Testament the tithe or
tenth is mentioned as a reasonable and just return to the
Lord by way of acknowledging Him as the source of supply.
After Jacob had seen the vision of the ladder with angels
ascending and descending on it he set up a pillar and made
a vow to the Lord, saying, "Of all that thou shalt give me
I will surely give the tenth unto thee." In the 3d chapter
of Malachi we find God's blessing directly connected with
faithfulness in giving to the Lord's treasury, but gifts
should be made because it is right and because one loves to
give, not
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from a sense of duty or for the sake of reward.
That there will be a reward following the giving we are
also assured by Jesus in a direct promise "Give, and it
shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken
together, running over, shall they give unto your bosom.
For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you
again."
Promises of spiritual benefits and increase of God's bounty
through the keeping of this divine law of giving and
receiving, abound in all the Scriptures. "There is that
scattereth, and increaseth yet more;
And there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it
tendeth only to want.
The liberal soul shall be made fat;
And he that watereth shall be watered also himself."
"He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed;
For he giveth of his bread to the poor."
"He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
"Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters."
We are living now under larger and fuller blessings from
God than man has ever known. It is meet therefore that we
give accordingly and remember the law of the tithe, for if
a tenth was required under the law in those olden times, it
is certainly no less fitting that we should give it
cheerfully now. One of the greatest incentives to generous
giving is a keen appreciation of the blessings secured to
us through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not also with him freely give
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us all things?" "Freely ye received, freely give." True
giving is the love and generosity of the Spirit-quickened
heart responding to the love and generosity of the Father's
heart.
In his second letter Paul made a stirring appeal to the
Corinthians for a generous gift to their poorer brethren in
Jerusalem. He suggests some principles of giving that are
always applicable, for giving is a grace that adds to the
spiritual growth of all men in all times. Without giving
the soul shrivels, but when giving is practiced as a part
of Christian living, the soul expands and becomes Godlike
in the grace of liberality and generosity. No restoration
to the likeness of God can be complete unless mind, heart,
and soul are daily opening out into that large, free,
bestowing spirit which so characterizes our God and Father.
Therefore it is not surprising that Paul classes the grace
of giving with faith, knowledge, and love.
A very simple yet practical plan for exercising this grace
of giving had been suggested by Paul in his first letter to
the Corinthian church. "Upon the first day of the week," he
said, "let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may
prosper"; that is, each member was asked to contribute to
the establishing of a treasury. This was to be the Lord's
storehouse, into which each one was to put his offerings
regularly and in proportion to his means. In adopting this
plan the offerer became a steward of the Lord's goods and
entered upon a course of training and discipline needed to
make a good steward, for it takes wisdom to know how
rightly to dispense the
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bounty of God. Perhaps no simpler way to begin one's growth
in the grace of giving can be suggested for our own day.
Those who have followed this method have usually found that
they had more money to give than they had thought possible.
In order that the plan of giving may be successful there
are several things that must be observed. First there must
be a willing mind. "If the readiness is there, it is
acceptable according as a man hath, not according as he
hath not." "God loveth a cheerful giver." Secondly, the
giving must be done in faith, and there must be no
withholding because the offering seems small. Many of the
instances of giving that are recorded in the Bible as
worthy of special mention, commendation, and blessing are
instances where the gift itself was small. The widow who
fed Elijah in his time of famine gave him a cake made with
her last handful of meal. For her faith and her generous
spirit she was rewarded with a plentiful daily supply of
food for herself and her sons, as well as for Elijah. "The
jar of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil
fail."
This same truth is set forth beautifully in the New
Testament, where it is clearly shown that not the amount of
the offering but the spirit in which it is given determines
its value and power. "And he [Jesus] sat down over against
the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into
the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And
there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which
make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples,
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and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor widow
cast in more than all they that are casting into the
treasury: for they all did cast in of their superfluity;
but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all
her living."
This poor widow exemplified what it is to give in faith;
and were ever two mites so great a gift as when they
brought forth such praise from the Master Himself! The
results of giving in faith are just as sure in this age as
in the time of Jesus, for the law is unfailing in all ages.
A third requisite for keeping the law of giving and
receiving is that the offering shall be a just and fair
proportion of all that one receives. The amount was settled
by Paul and the measure he gave was: "as he may prosper."
There is a certain definiteness about this, and yet it
admits of freedom for the giver to exercise his individual
faith, judgment, and will.
The question of wise distribution is closely related to the
matter of filling God's treasury. To whom shall we give and
when are questions quite important. There are several
truths that may be considered in this connection, but then
each individual finds it necessary to trust to the Spirit
of wisdom manifest in his own heart, since there are no
rules or precedents that one can follow in detail. This is
as it should be, for it keeps the individual judgment,
faith, love, sympathy, and will alive and active. Yet a
careful study of the underlying laws of spiritual giving
will help one to exercise these divine faculties as they
should be exercised. If we follow the
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Spirit of wisdom we shall not give to anything that is
contrary to the teaching of Jesus, but spend every penny in
the furtherance of the good news of life that He proclaims
and in the promotion of the brotherhood of man that it is
His mission to establish on earth among all those who
become sons through Him.
True spiritual giving rewards with a double joy: first that
which comes with the laying of the gift upon the altar or
in the Lord's treasury; then the joy of sharing our part of
God's bounty with others. One of the blessings is the
satisfying knowledge that we are meeting the law and paying
our debt of love and justice to the Lord. The other is the
joy of sharing the Lord's bounty. Justice comes first; then
generosity.
Even the so-called heathen recognize giving as a part of
worship, for we find them coming with offerings when they
worship their idols. All ages and all religious
dispensations have stressed giving as a vital part of their
worship. In this age, when we have so much, more is
required of us, even to the giving of ourselves with all
that we are and have. This privilege carries immeasurable
benefits with it, for it looses us from the personal life,
unifies us with the universal, and so opens our inner and
outer life to the inflow and the outflow of the life, love,
bounty and grace of God. This is the blessed result of
faithful obedience to the law and exercise of the grace of
giving.
The people were amazed when the prophet
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Malachi told them that they had been robbing God and
desired to know wherein they had failed when they thought
they had been serving the Lord so faithfully. People are as
much amazed today to learn that they have been untrue to
God's law, for the message of Malachi is for us quite as
much as for the ancients. The Spirit of God gave this
message through the prophet: "Bring ye the whole tithe into
the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and
prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah 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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he
shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall
your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field,
saith Jehovah of hosts. And all nations shall call you
happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith Jehovah of
hosts."
Study this 3d chapter of Malachi carefully if you would
know the happy solution of the problem of giving and
receiving. See how practical it is for people in every walk
of life and for nations as well. It offers the solution to
the problems of the farmer. It sets forth clearly a law of
prosperity for all classes of people; for those who need
protection for their crops from frosts, droughts, floods;
for those who would escape the plagues, pestilences, and
manifold things that would destroy their supply and
support. It is a simple law but so effective: simply give a
tithe or tenth or the "first-fruits" or their equivalent to
the Lord. God should not be expected to meet all
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man's requirements in the matter of giving this protection
and increase unless man fulfills the requirements of God.
The act of giving complies with the divine law, because it
involves the recognition of God as the giver of all
increase; and unless we have a recognition of the source of
our supply we have no assurance of continuing in its use.
Many people have doubts as to whether it will really do any
good to ask the Lord for protection and for plenty in
regard to crops or other supply. Many who are employed in
cities or who are in business think it strange that they
should believe in omnipresent prosperity. Thus unbelief is
present with them at the very time when an unwavering faith
is most necessary. There is a psychological reason why
people should obey spiritual law. When a person obeys the
law of God along any line, his faith immediately becomes
strengthened in proportion and his doubts disappear. When
anyone puts God first in his finances, not only in thought
but in every act, by releasing his first fruits (a tenth
part of his increase or income) to the Lord, his faith in
omnipresent supply becomes a hundredfold stronger and he
prospers accordingly. Obeying this law gives him an inner
knowing that he is building his finances on a sure
foundation that will not fail him.
Everything in the universe belongs to God, and though all
things are for the use and enjoyment of man, he can possess
nothing selfishly. When man learns that a higher law than
human custom and desire is working in the earth to bring
about justice,
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righteousness, and equalization, he will begin to obey that
law by tithing, loving his neighbor, and doing unto others
as he would have them do unto him. Then man will reach the
end of all the troubles brought upon himself by his
selfishness and greed, and will become healthy, prosperous,
and happy.
The pastor of a small church in Georgia suggested to his
congregation, composed largely of cotton farmers, that they
dedicate a tenth part of their land to the Lord and ask Him
for protection against the ravages of the boll weevil,
which had devastated the crops in that vicinity for several
years. Seven farmers in the congregation decided to do
this. They took no measures to protect their crop on these
dedicated acres, yet the pest did not attack the cotton
there. The quality of the fiber was better on those acres
than on any that adjoined them. The experiment was so
successful in fact that practically all the farmers in that
community have decided to follow the plan in the future.
Many experiences such as this are awakening men to respect
our relation to the infinite principle of life, everywhere
present, that we know as God. This divine element of life
that manifests itself as growth and substance resides
within the factors that combine to produce cotton, wheat,
and all other forms of vegetation. Then certainly if the
farmer works in acknowledged sympathy with this life
principle, it will work in sympathy with him and for his
good. Each contributing in love and understanding to the
other, a larger crop will be the result, and a larger
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measure of prosperity for the farmer. Not only the farmer
but the banker, the tradesman, the professional man can
work in sympathy and harmony with this principle of growth
and increase. The infinite life principle is as responsive
in one field as another, and it is everywhere present. Even
so-called inanimate objects are filled to the full with
this infinite life, and even coined gold is tense with the
desire to expand and to grow. The materials handled by the
tradesman are made of the same substance that makes the
universe and contain within themselves the germ of growth
and increase. All men are therefore daily associated with
life, and through rendering it the reverent acknowledgment
that is its due and through witnessing this acknowledgment
by dedicating a part of their increase they are prospered.
The tithe is the equivalent of the increased fertility of
the land. If by acknowledging God as the giver of all life
the farmer raises two or six or twenty bushels more on his
field, that extra portion, which he would not have had
otherwise, is the Lord's portion. In trade the tithe is the
equivalent of the increased quality of goods. In
professional life the tithe is the increased ability or the
increased appreciation. The tithing principle can be
applied in all of our industrial and social relationships.
In every case where it has been applied and followed for a
time, the tither has been. remarkably blessed; quite as
much so as in the case of the cotton farmers and their
tithe acres.
There are many people who wish to give but
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seem at a loss as to how to go about it or where to begin.
They do not know how much they should give, or when or how
often to offer their gifts, and there are a host of related
questions. To answer these questions there must be found a
definite basis for their giving, a rule to which they can
conform. This is where the law of tithing fits beautifully,
for it is a basis and a sound one, tested and proved for
thousands of years. The tithe may be a tenth part of one's
salary, wage, or allowance, of the net profits of business,
or of money received from the sale of goods. It is based on
every form of supply, no matter through what channel it may
come, for there are many channels through which man is
prospered. The tenth should be set apart for the upkeep of
some spiritual work or workers. It should be set apart
first even before one's personal expenses are taken out,
for in the right relation of things God comes first always.
Then everything else follows in divine order and falls into
its proper place.
The great promise of prosperity is that if men seek God and
His righteousness first, then all shall be added unto them.
One of the most practical and sensible ways of seeking
God's kingdom first is to be a tither, to put God first in
finances. It is the promise of God, the logical thing to
do, and the experience of all who have tried it, that all
things necessary to their comfort, welfare, and happiness
have been added to them in an overflowing measure. Tithing
establishes method in giving and brings into the
consciousness a sense of order and fitness that
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will be manifested in one's outer life and affairs as
increased efficiency and greater prosperity.
Another blessing that follows the practice of tithing is
the continual "letting go" of what one receives, which
keeps one's mind open to the good and free from
covetousness. Making an occasional large gift and then
permitting a lapse of time before another is made will not
give this lasting benefit, for one's mind channel may in
the meantime become clogged with material thoughts of fear,
lack, or selfishness. When a person tithes he is giving
continuously, so that no spirit of grasping, no fear, and
no thought of limitations gets a hold on him. There is
nothing that keeps a person's mind so fearless and so free
to receive the good constantly coming to him as the
practice of tithing. Each day, week, pay day, whenever it
is, the tither gives one tenth. When an increase of
prosperity comes to him, as come it will and does, his
first thought is to give God the thanks and the tenth of
the new amount. The free, open mind thus stayed on God is
certain to bring forth joy, real satisfaction in living,
and true prosperity. Tithing is based on a law that cannot
fail, and it is the surest way ever found to demonstrate
plenty, for it is God's own law and way of giving.
"And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the
land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's: it is holy
unto Jehovah."
Let us give as God gives, unreservedly, and with no thought
of return, making no mental demands
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for recompense on those who have received from us. A gift
with reservations is not a gift; it is a bribe. There is no
promise of increase unless we give freely, let go of the
gift entirely, and recognize the universal scope of the
law. Then the gift has a chance to go out and to come back
multiplied. There is no telling how far the blessing may
travel before it comes back, but it is a beautiful and
encouraging fact that the longer it is in returning, the
more hands it is passing through and the more hearts it is
blessing. All these hands and hearts add something to it in
substance, and it is increased all the more when it does
return.
We must not try to fix the avenues through which our good
is to come. There is no reason for thinking that what you
give will come back through the one to whom you gave it.
All men are one in Christ and form a universal brotherhood.
We must put away any personal claim, such as "I gave to
you, now you give to me," and supplant it with "Inasmuch as
ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least,
ye did it unto me." The law will bring each of us just what
is his own, the reaping of the seeds he has sown. The
return will come, for it cannot escape the law, though it
may quite possibly come through a very different channel
from what we expect. Trying to fix the channel through
which his good must come to him is one of the ways in which
the personal man shuts off his own supply.
The spiritual-minded man does not make selfish use of the
law but gives because he loves to give.
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Because he gives with no thought of reward and no other
motive than love, he is thrown more completely into the
inevitable operation of the law and his return is all the
more certain. He is inevitably enriched and cannot escape
it. Jesus said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." He
was not merely making a promise but stating a law that
never fails to function.
So inexhaustible is the bounty of the Giver of all good
that to him who has eyes to see it and faith to receive it
God is an unfailing source of supply. The munificent Giver
withholds nothing from him who comes in the name of a son
and heir and lays claim to his portion. It is the Father's
good pleasure to give us the kingdom, and all that the
Father has is ours. But we must have the faith and the
courage to claim it.
Men who accomplish great things in the industrial world are
the ones who have faith in the money-producing power of
their ideas. Those who would accomplish great things in the
demonstration of spiritual resources must have faith to lay
hold of the divine ideas and the courage to speak them into
expression. The conception must be followed by the
affirmation that the law is instantly fulfilled. Then the
supply will follow in manifestation.
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[Prosperity]
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