Evan Rowell

GUEST COLUMNIST

The Lord God Omnipotent -- all knowing and all powerful -- is capable of providing all that we need to survive. He can amply sustain the members and clergy of his church without requiring any real sacrifice at all, let alone devotion to the commandments, including the surrendering of 10 percent of all our increase.

Given this reality, why do you suppose the Lord requires that we travel through so much trial and tribulation in pursuit of His choicest blessings?

The answer lies is that exaltation in the realm of our Heavenly Father cannot be set upon a weak and untested foundation. We must show personal strength of character sufficient to sustain exaltation. This type of growth can only be accomplished by enduring the consequences of trial and blessings, sacrifice and gain, suffering and joy, fear and confidence, wickedness and righteousness and sin and repentance.

In short, we must first demonstrate faith in our Lord by keeping his commandments without reservation and a willingness to walk through the fires of tribulation before we can be allowed to wield a flaming sword of righteousness.

It has long been the mark of great leaders to be able to extract sacrifice from those who look to them for guidance. A person, group, society, or nation, not willing to make sacrifices, has never prospered for very long. Sacrifices are the building blocks of strength and character.

To allow a small child, incapable of a rational decision making process, to build their own character traits without guidance and direction is both irresponsible and foolish on the part of the guardian. This proven reality concerning character brings us full circle and answers the question: "Why are there so precise a set of standards which we must be constantly in pursuit of."

In His realm, the Lord has a great many blessings in store for us all. Many of these blessings endow a person with great power and authority. The bestowal of these gifts requires that a person's character makes them worthy to receive it.

Preparing to receive these celestial blessings is the core purpose for our very existence. This earth life is but a transitional period of time wherein our character is tested; it is not a time to waste being indifferent to our Heavenly Father's commandments and seeking to decide for ourselves what we will and will not do.

Remember, what we are is God's gift to us, and what we become is our gift to God. If it were not so, our entire existence would be a grand exercise in futility. It would be nothing more than a useless game wherein the game master already knows the outcome.

Let's look at Malachi 3:8: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."

How is it that mankind can rob God of anything? The idea is ludicrous and defies reason until one considers that failure to do that which we are commanded robs God of our personal growth.

One of the core commandments that the Lord uses to bless us in a multitude of ways is the law of tithing. In order for the practice of tithing to benefit us we must be willing to obey without guile, resentment and without changing it to make it less of a burden.

In Leviticus 27:32 it clearly indicates what part of your increase constitutes a proper tithing.

"And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, [even] of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord."

A tenth part all you have been given, be it a little or a vast fortune. To our Heavenly Father it is of equal worth and so shall be the blessings given to the obedient. This point is amply demonstrated in Mark 12:42-44.

(42) "And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. (43) And he called [unto him] his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: (44) For all [they] did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, [even] all her living."

Here is my favorite part of this whole discussion, the promise that the Lord gives to the faithful tithe payer in Malachi 3:10.

(10) "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]."

Can a man honestly ask for a better return? The Lord gives you everything you possess. You return 10 percent to him and keep 90 percent. Not only does the Lord sustain you with your 90 percent, he also opens the windows of heaven and returns to you blessings without measure. It is an unwise person who would knowingly pass up a deal like that and only our Heavenly Father can make such a promise and keep it.

Make paying an honest tithe a matter of sincere fasting and prayer and then surrender it to whomever you honestly think the Lord would have you pay it; if you will do this, he will keep His magnificent promise for your benefit. It's a wonderful plan wherein both the giver and the receiver are abundantly blessed.

Allow me to bear personal testimony of this reality. Never in my life, not even once, when I have surrendered to my Heavenly Father all that He has commanded of me, has He failed to keep for me the promise made in Malachi 3:10-11.

The bottom line is this: The Lord does not need our gold. He needs us to have the character to be willing to surrender it back to him because he asks it of us. By doing so we are living the very definition of sacrifice by giving up something good for something vastly better, helping to lay a sure foundation upon which eternal life and exaltation may be received.

Tooele City resident Evan Rowell is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although his views in no way represent the official stance of the church. He may be reached by e-mail at evandr2@faithandevidence.com.