Gospel Message Day 355

Tithes and Offerings

Everything we have or have been given comes from God. In return? He asks for obedience to His commandments and laws. One of those laws is the law of tithing. We tithe our increase, whether that be monetary or something else. To tithe is to give back one tenth. There are also offerings that we make. Some of those offerings can be for temples, missionary work, education. Fast offerings go to help those who aren't able to provide food for themselves and their family.

What we give is in turn used to build God's kingdom, not man's kingdom. It is all used to bless the lives of others.

Blessings come from paying tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:10-11):

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord 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 her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

The law given and a warning of what will happen if we don't keep it (Doctrine & Covenants 119:3-6):

And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people.

And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.

Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you.

And I say unto you, if my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes and my judgments may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy, behold, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you.

When we give our offerings, they are to the Lord (Leviticus 27:30):

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.