Monday Musings: Tithing is an outward manifestation of our willingness to place God first

I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the California Fresno Mission. This consisted of basically the whole San Juaquin Valley.

While I was there, I had two experiences that taught me a lot about why tithing matters. The first was with a family who was asking: "Why do we need to pay tithing before I go to the temple?"

My answer was what I learned from. I don't know what inspired me to say this (well, I actually do) but I remember responding that if we aren't able to keep the commitments we make outside the temple then we won't be able to keep the commitments we make inside the temple.

Another experience taught me the truth of that. Later in my mission I was working with another couple. He was an Ensign in the Navy and I am sure their little family of four was on a really tight budget. When we got to the law of Tithing, it was all over. They wouldn't have anything more to do with us. They had been committed to baptism, but when they learned that they were expected to give 10% of their income to the Church they simply couldn't see it. I hope that at some future point the feelings they had about the Church may have changed their minds but at that time they could not see how they could possible make it while giving away 10% of what little they had.

Tithing is by definition 10% of what we have earn. This Tithing of us as a people provides the money for running the Church. In the LDS church there is a lay ministry so none of the church leaders are paid for their service. Some full-time church employees are paid from Tithing funds, but all of them must maintain their membership in good standing, meaning specifically, they must maintain a good moral life.

Tithing then isn't really about me paying for my religion but about me dedicating funds to support a system I believe in. The benefits I get from the church are completely intangible, but marvelously effective in my life.

Some of you may have read this post earlier, I realized I had made an error and made the above strikethrough and correction.