Tithing is a spiritual law given by God to humankind to assist people in finding abundance, fulfillment, and gratitude in their everyday lives. The law of tithing is to give 10 percent of one’s increase back to God, with God represented on the physical level by the source of one’s spiritual teachings — often a church, synagogue, mosque, or a spiritual teacher. When a person tithes, the universe that works under the spiritual law of tithing says, “If you have that much to give, that means you are open to receive more.” As humankind fulfills its part of the covenant by giving 10 percent to God, then God fulfills Its part by continually blessing us. So, you may want to check it out with a joyful attitude of saying, “Lord, I am open to receive whatever it is that you bless me with.” And then discover for yourself the blessing of fulfilling God’s covenant.
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram […]. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything” (Genesis 14:18-20 NIV). When the prophet Abram (later Abraham) was traveling home with the riches of battle after warring with a nearby king, he was met by a high priest in the order of God. This priest was Melchizedek, and it was at that time that the Priesthood of Melchizedek was established on the planet. As soon as Abraham saw Melchizedek, the wisdom of his heart knew he was seeing one who is with God. Abraham knew intuitively that he was to give back 10 percent of all that he had in the world to the representative of God, and so began the practice of tithing. When Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek and then gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything, a spiritual covenant was set up for our time, whereby humankind is to give a tenth of its increase (what a person receives that is his or hers) back to God. God, of course, is always fulfilling his part anyway, so the question is, are we lining up, are we fulfilling the covenant? People sometimes resist this process of giving their tithe. Interestingly, it doesn’t belong to you in the first place; you are just restoring it to its rightful owner — God. Historically, people have tended to trust in materiality for their success. Instead of trusting in the Lord for their success, they trust in money or riches. Therefore, they withhold their tithes so they can have a lot more they can trust. This happened to the Hebrews, who, instead of being a pleasure to the Lord, sometimes turned to their own pleasures and stopped tithing. It wasn’t too long before things went awry. When they questioned why, the answer was always that they had forsaken or given up on the Lord and that they had broken God’s covenant. Then the people would restore the covenant by tithing; they would start to flourish again, and there would be no war. Our job is to overcome our lower nature so we can live in the awareness of our Soul. When we tithe to the church or God, we are letting the material world let go of us. So tithing is also part of a spiritual law and assists us in getting free of materialistic confinement. In Malachi, it is asked, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me […] in tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8 NIV). The question is, can God be robbed? No, but his covenant can be broken, and that is robbing God of the covenant. Later on in the same chapter, it is said, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse […]. Test me in this […] and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (Malachi 3:10 NIV). In biblical times, people who tithed often received one hundredfold more than what they had given. When they received their hundredfold, they then gave 10 percent of that they had forsaken or given up on the Lord and that they had broken God’s covenant. Then the people would restore the covenant by tithing; they would start to flourish again, and there would be no war.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (Malachi 3:10 NIV). One of the fundamental errors that we have as human beings is greed, which is manifested mostly in terms of money or monetary value. Greed, by its very nature, is a striking against the riches within oneself because it appears that there is never enough here in the world. Our eyes are always “hungry.” We can help to break the greed pattern by tithing, giving 10 percent of our personal wealth. When we tithe, two levels are activated — a level here in this world and, at the same time, a mystical, invisible level. The mystical is a communication saying “You are abundant and handle abundance well, so here’s some more.” The other level, in this world, is when we look at our abundance and contribute joyfully through tithing. We are actually cheerful about it. This action sets up a countenance that is a form of glory in the human being, and that glory attracts more abundance. When one person becomes free of materiality, it’s like an infection going the other way. Instead of greed affecting honest people, honest people start affecting the greedy. You let go and give to God, joyfully and unconditionally. It’s simple to tithe: you just give back 10 percent of what you earn to the source of your spiritual teachings. It’s done for the joy of giving. When you lovingly give in this way, the abundance starts to come to you in many ways.
