Tithing As Service

For over twenty-five years now, I have been contemplating a statement my primary spiritual teacher, John-Roger said – “If you want to know God, you tithe.” I was too smart to tithe at first, seeing it as a scam. As the years passed by, I listened to others extol the virtues of tithing and judged them fools. Then, I heard a statement that moved me into participation. It had to do with acknowledging God as the source of all the blessings in our lives, and doing the polite thing – saying “thank you.” I came to see paying ten percent of my income to the source of my spiritual learning as not only polite, but reasonable. After all, I pay my literary agent fifteen percent!

It took me over fifteen years to overcome all my objections to tithing. They were mostly fears. How could I tithe when I didn’t have enough to pay my bills? Why couldn’t I just say “thank you” to God in words? Why did I have to give God money? God didn’t need my money – if God is the source, then surely God has plenty of money and doesn’t need mine.

In time, I discovered that this process of acknowledging and addressing my fears was a priceless gift I was giving myself. I was being of service to myself by creating a relationship of trust with God. I shone the light of God into those dark places of fear inside of me and the bogeyman disappeared. I built trust by not feeding my fears. I fed my faith instead. I surrendered my devotion to the god of money and placed my trust in God.

For over ten years now, I have been a faithful tither. I no longer fear that I won’t have enough money. Instead, I live with the peace of knowing that I have more than enough. My faith has morphed into an openness to God’s bounty, a grateful claiming of my worthiness and willingness to have my physical, financial, emotional, and spiritual needs met, and a willingness to live in a loving and trusting partnership with God in the co-creation of my life. John Morton explains tithing like this: "The purpose of this level is the bridging of the Spirit into the human form. Tithing is part of that bridging. I claim my connection when I give back to God, the Source. In recognition and acknowledgement of that connection, I give. And in giving, I grow spiritually."

Giving my ten percent serves me by keeping the door of my heart open as I build trust in God’s love and bounty. It is an expression of my gratitude for all the forms of health, wealth and happiness I enjoy in my life. My tithing serves others, not only by example, but by providing financial support to the spiritual institution that has been the primary stimulant of my spiritual growth. I am now a joyful giver and I can only hope that those served through my contributions may be as blessed as I have been through the mere act of tithing. John-Roger was right – "If you want to know God, you tithe." And that is a return on investment that money can't buy.

Reverend Judith Johnson is an ecumenical minister ordained in 1985 and living in Rhinebeck, N.Y.

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