Our Relationship with God

Imagine a mother in a park tenderly holding her young daughter who was just scared by a big dog. The dog is gone and the little girl is snuggling closer into her mom’s shoulder and feeling that everything is all right. At this moment the girl knows mom is taking care of her.

This is our relationship with God. Many of us don’t realize it or even believe such a relationship is possible. But this relationship is our birthright. God is always there for us. The more we realize this truth through our own personal experience, the more we develop faith, the faith that God is taking care of us. Regular tithing will help give you that experience. Consider the following testimonials:

I’ve been tithing for a couple of months now. I am a college student, so my income is meager, and if I were to share that I tithe 10% of my income, I’m sure that more than a few family members and friends might roll their eyes. But I have felt immediate faith in the Divine Grace since I first read the invitation to tithe that came in the mail.

I’m studying and tutoring full time, and the place that I needed to get to make room for an office for my upcoming internship is pretty expensive. I’ve been getting a lot of extra help though. First, my dad agreed to help me out substantially on a monthly basis. Then, just the other day, I was helped out of having to purchase an expensive massage table when a friend offered to “store” hers at my house!

Tithing is a powerful way to establish or strengthen one’s relationship with the Divine Friend, the Divine Reality. Thank you! ¯ J.G.

It is your intention that makes your gift a tithe. When you give to God through tithing and expect nothing in return, you are purifying your heart of any attachment to money. The more you are able to give of your life back to God, the more receptive you become. As Swami Kriyananda writes;

Receptivity is actually the secret of spiritual development. It comes by giving up the thought of “I and mine,” and it comes from giving up the desire for anything related to “I and mine. The world cannot understand that way of thinking; the world says . . . ‘What else have you?’

But the soul knows that you have infinity if you can give up this little tiny speck of dust, this thing which has to go anyway. It may go tomorrow, it may go fifty years from now, but sooner or later everything that you’ve worked so hard to build is no longer going to be with you.

It would be wise every day to give it back to God. Very wise to say: “Everything I have is Yours and everything that I do is for You. I don’t want anything to mine. I just want to sign it over to You.”

Know that God is always with you taking care of your every need. Be thankful for what you have and find contentment in that. Serve God in others and give to them until you are so absorbed in that process, you forget yourself. God is the source of everything. Give back to that source by tithing and complete the circuit of love and joy.