Prosperity Sunday 11 of 12

I’m just going to come right at you this week with what might be a tough question.  “Do you live according to the spiritual principles you say you believe to be true? (AKA, do you walk your talk?)

It is one thing to profess faith in certain principles… and yet another thing to live them. Do you walk your talk?

This is an important question for us to ask ourselves. Not just today, but from time to time as we engage in self-reflection.

“Walking” the law of giving and receiving brings to us a happier life experience.

That’s a pretty compelling reason to step back and let God lead the way.

I’ll come back to this idea of living from principle a little later.

The chapter we are reviewing this week from the book, SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS: THE PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF TRUE PROSPERITY by Eric Butterworth is titled, “A New Look at Tithing.”  

Here’s what he means by that. The practice of tithing—giving 10% of your income back to God—this whole practice and idea sprang forth and was instituted in the Hebrew Bible.

Let’s look at what Jesus and the writers of the Christian Bible had to say on this subject.

May we see our first slide please? (SLIDE IS BLANK)

They had nothing to say.

There is no reference to tithing (that is, the mandatory giving of 10% of income) in the New Testament or in Jesus’ teachings, and, Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing. It seems to me that if Jesus felt that tithing was a “must” for high spiritual unfoldment, He would have stated a clear position… or at the very least said something about it. He didn’t.

Butterworth tells us, “It is important to note that Jesus was very specific in His teaching of the law of giving (tithing falls under this law):

·        ‘Give and it shall be given unto you…’” (Luke 6:38)

Do these words mean anything to you or are they empty? We can read the Bible and there is an awful lot of sin, and guilt, and fear thrown at us. We can even read just those red-lettered words, the words ascribed to Jesus and find some questionable content. I believe that when you dedicate yourself to experiencing a greater understanding of the power and presence of God, and “how life works,” you begin to have a feel for some truth in and behind some words in the Bible and a feel for the baloney in and behind some of the words and ideas, too. I hope you’ll take in this idea of the law of giving and receiving and think about it.

·        “And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.” Mt 4:24

And I say giving has to be done from the right consciousness…of giving selflessly.

Butterworth notes that it’s important to remember that we are not meant to give in order to get. Let me repeat that, “We are not meant to give in order to get. That is a demonstration that we have no awareness of how “The Law of Giving and Receiving” works.

Tithing as a material act (giving in order to get) is non-productive.

On the human level of consciousness, in other words, on the material level, we may emphasize “getting and having” as prime goals for ourselves. I suggest we’d be better off seeking a level of spiritual consciousness where we see the way of “giving and being” as the utmost of goals. (I am not talking about sacrifice. Feeling sacrifice is a red flag that would, hopefully, cause you to stop and consider, “What am I afraid of, why Am I doing what I’m intending to do?”)

Maybe radiate and be is a better way to phrase this. Radiance is the ever expanding Essence of the Loving Presence within. Radiance is this Presence made manifest in the world of physical thing.

Radiance is the Essence and Spirit of God. Radiating the essence and spirit of God is not done for reward, nor does it seek results, for it knows that fruition comes as a natural result of radiation.

This is what the law of giving and receiving is saying. This underlies what Jesus is saying, “The law is and cannot be otherwise. That which is, is without seeking, trying, striving, because… it is! Let’s not be fooled otherwise.

William James once suggested that the average religious believer had a religion made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, [defined through] fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit.

Let’s not be fooled by tradition, imitation, and habit.

I hope you will never relate to anything I say from this platform that way. I hope you will never take my word, or the “Official Unity word” as “gospel,” but that you’ll think about what’s been said or written, contemplate it, meditate upon it, connect with your inner guidance about it.

A minister friend tells this story about a member of the congregation he served and how that member was telling a story about when he was a boy on his
grandfather’s farm. His grandfather had a flock of sheep in a certain caged area. He called the boy over and he said, “I want you to watch what is going to happen now. This is a life lesson.”

He encouraged a ewe to jump over the gate. Then the grandfather said to the boy, “Watch this.” He opened the gate so it was no longer in the way of the sheep, but every sheep followed that first ewe and jumped over the gate that was not there. His grandfather said to him, “Son, throughout your whole life, I want you to think about what you are doing and why.”

Butterworth asks, “As you look around you at your spiritual community, ask yourself, “Do I want this to be here tomorrow, next week or next year?””

If your answer is yes, I suggest it requires you to personally understand, and live, through practice and faith, the law of giving and receiving…a law that works in consciousness. Consciousness then outputs into the world. This is a spiritual law; the more freely you give (un-reluctantly), the greater flow you create. (Mt 4:26)

This month I ask you to write the affirmation you find on your bulletin 10 times each day to help that idea take root in your consciousness. “I give way to divine flow.”

And we give way to (allow) divine flow by giving without agenda, knowing that the law works because the law is… and we give with gratitude. Gratitude keeps circulation alive.

Have a great week this week. Independence Day is on Friday. Celebrate responsibly! I love you, God Bless you.