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Blessings
A minister of God once questioned me about tithing and blessings and I stated that I needed God's blessings before I could pay my tithe. He took objection to this and even spoke of it as a bad attitude in a sermon from the pulpit in a Sabbath service.
Perhaps He was just looking from a starting point of the present and what to expect in the future, according to God"s promise. But He did not ask me to explain myself or to defend what I was saying. The conversation was ended and assumptions immediately ensued.
The fact, as I saw it, is that without blessings from God I would not be able to make any tithe payments. I had to first receive life, then skills and abilities, then a job, then pay, and all the while be cared for or pay my own cost of living. The scriptures say that we are to pay tithes of the increase of our earnings. This is stated in a way that to me is as true as the establishment of the Sabbath from sunset to sunset, they are both only stated once in the Bible.
When I first came into the church at the age of thirty, I had a job and was paying my own way. I started paying my tithe each pay check and was living according to my means on the remainder of my income. When I spoke to the minister about tithing and blessings I was fast approaching retirement age and was increasingly feeling the need of Godly intervention in the setting up of my retirement which at the time was looking like an distant dream and yet an inevitable imminent necessity. I needed either increased strength endurance and skills to generate a prolonged career or some out side or miraculous assistance. Without one or a combination of these blessings from God retirement seemed impossible.
Some time has gone by now and my career seems to have ended for the most part, however, I have received unexpected financial blessings which are sustaining me in my present unexpected early and seemingly forced retirement. The future however is still unpredictable and requiring more future blessings from God. My strength, endurance and skills are waning. My earnings are greatly diminished. The increase of my earnings are non existent. My blessings have come predominantly in the form of a hard working wife and an inheritance, what I consider blessings from God.
Perhaps the minister was thinking in ideal terms and not in specific terms but I was speaking from a personal perspective and situation. The sword of truth cuts both ways, babies are a blessing from God to the parents and parents are a blessing from God to the child. The Bible does state that a minister deserves His wages and that he has no other income but the offerings of the members of the Church and the supporters of the works of the church but the fact of the matter is that this minister seemed better off financially than I, as were all ministers as far as I could see. It seemed a trifle inappropriate at my age for him to expect more from me when he was better off and my income was decreasing and my cost of living increasing. Only God can fix such a situation and I trust He will.
Blessings came before tithes but still I await a day when blessings will come after tithes.
2016 Jacques Gauvin
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