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New Day Herald

Living On God’s Terms

Article imagePeople will sometimes take fear and relate it to tithing or other things in their lives. There is no real connection between fear and tithing unless it is through you. You are the connection if you take fear and relate it to tithing, since they are not related.
Because of the way we conduct ourselves, we can build up resistance if we do not do what we say we are going to do. For some people, tithing is a good example of this dynamic. There may be a conflict between what shows up in your life and what you set up as an intention. A part of you that we call the basic self is assigned to serve you physically and in the world. It listens very carefully and records your intentions. When you say expressions like, “I want to do this, I am going to do this, I would like to do this, and, yes, I will do this,” it records all that. Then, when you do NOT do that, a sense of betrayal and confusion appears and resistance builds up. After a while, the basic self gets tired of that wasting of time and energy. So, it’s important that you do what you say you are going to do or what you have assigned yourself as a commitment. When you do not do it, you have to clear that up. You cannot just ignore it and expect that it will go away. You will pay a price. And if you are going to have to pay, you might as well minimize the price.

There are times when we can see things differently and more clearly. That means we are learning and applying our learning by changing for the better. Change of itself is neutral, neither good nor bad. If we know something is not working, it is time to change. If the road you are on is washed out and now there is a rushing, dangerous creek where there once was a road, it would be foolish to say, “I said I was going to go down this road and, damn it, I am going to go down this road!” You will go into the creek. That is “stupid” consciousness because it is not dealing in what is present.
Some basic groundrules may override what you say you will do. First, take care of yourself. If whatever you are involved in is not taking care of yourself, do not do it. If you are taking care of yourself, that gives you the ability to help take care of others because you are already taken care of and in a position to offer help. The consciousness of helping to take care of others is a caring consciousness. However, if you are not cared for, then more than likely you will attempt to care for somebody with something they do not want or put something on them that they do not want. You may think you are helping, but you are not. First, take care of yourself so you can help take care of others.
Another groundrule is, do not hurt yourself and do not hurt others. If you are involved in something that you find is going against you in the world physically, or emotionally, or mentally, do not do it. And do not do it to others. Rather than hurt, just stop. And do not allow yourself to be hurt.
The third groundrule is to use everything for upliftment. If something you are doing is not uplifting, find out how it could be uplifting. Remember, there is always a way because all of the creation was created so it could be used for upliftment, learning, and growth. If you are learning, you will be changing your behavior. Real learning means you are changing your behavior, getting better, and refining yourself. There is always going to be room to make things better.
Anyone truly utilizing their life resources to advantage is working on using everything to get better and to make things better. One way we can know whether anyone is on their correct path is to look back at the results of their life. If you find that wherever they have been, they have left it better than they found it, then they have applied the consciousness that is always lifting.
If you attempt to move away from your responsibilities – like getting away with or ignoring something – it won’t work. Your responsibilities follow you. Often, they will meet you because you are meandering. Your life is not like a straight line, and your responsibilities can work directly in a straight line. They will just look at your meandering and go on a beeline to meet you. How did they get there? You were meandering, and they could see where your life was going and decided to meet up with you. When they do, remember to use everything for your upliftment, learning, and growth.

I have said that if I tithe, I know God. That is my reality. For what I know about God up to now, and for the years I have held that focus, I tithe. I am really glad to give back. I know that God is blessing me beyond measure, beyond anything I can do or give back. If there is some way I could demonstrate my appreciation for what God is doing, I want to know what that is. When I heard about tithing and realized what it meant, I got that this is a way for me to give back to God. I can demonstrate that I understand who made the first offering and whose terms I am living on. I am living on God’s terms.
Set yourself up so that tithing is the very first thing you do. It is the very first thing. As you create your life, you set it into a place of, “First, I take care of God.” That is a given. Before the tax man, before any creditor, vendor, myself, or anything I want, I give back to God. I do that as a ruthless consciousness. God is first. That is how it is set. Since I have been doing that, my experience is that I am blessed in ways I do not understand or comprehend. I call it grace. There is more grace in my life. Does that equal tithing? It is beyond equal, as my sense is that I am given more than I give and that I am increasingly given more to share with others. God and tithing are part of that relationship, and, for me, tithing is a primary part.
Initially, it may seem like, “I am already in debt. How can I tithe 10 percent?” Make a deal with God. There is a part in the Bible where it says, in effect, “If you give, you test me. Watch what I will do for you. Watch how I will bless you.” My experience is that it works that way. Some do not experience it that way because of their interpretations. They get tested in their resolve. I do not judge people who do not tithe or who tithe intermittently or in some different way. I find that if you know God, you will tithe as a way of exercising your knowledge that there is a relationship and a way to give back.
Tithing goes to something that represents God’s work in this world. My source of contact in the world is where I find God relates to me as a teaching and as a ministry. It is easy to give to that source because it is most precious and most valuable. It is the first source where God is relating to me personally and teaching me.
What would you be willing to do to be on good, first-name, personal terms with God? It may take some adjustment and sacrifice to get there. You need to be willing to face God to demonstrate that you walk as a partner of God. A partner is on an equal standing. There are a lot of ways to demonstrate that, not just tithing. Tithing is one of those ways that demonstrates from a very personal, basic level that you are “not just whistling Dixie.”
Is there anything that you really would not do to see God? When you know what you want above all, everything is on the table. Everything is up. Whatever I have to give, I will give for what that is, because it is worth it all.
Have you ever been around somebody you considered mad or crazy or living in their own world? Did you want to listen to what they had to say and let them direct your life? Why listen to a mad person inside of you? Why give them credence and authority in your life? In your right mind, you would not; you would do it only when you are being stupid. The beauty of stupidity is that it is unnecessary. That means that you can stop it. You can stop being stupid. Do not do unnecessary things. Instead, focus on doing things that work for you and others more and more.
Your life and who you are is not about nonsense like fear, violence, or being hurt. That need not be on your agenda. When you really understand who you are, you will find a caring that transcends what happens to your body. You will understand that matters of the Spirit are more important than matters of the world.
What really matters is who you are eternally after you leave this world. That transcends anything physically, which means it is free of the physical and beyond it. One of the ways to demonstrate that, to get the direct experience to yourself that you know the relative importance of things in this world, is to tithe. Even if you say you cannot afford to tithe and you tithe, you are demonstrating: “I do not care that I think I cannot afford it. I am going to tithe anyway.” Why? Because this belongs to God. It is not mine to take. It belongs to God, and there are a lot of mad men saying, “No, it does not. It belongs over here or over there. You should do this with it. You should do that with it.” You do not have to listen to opinions about what you should do. If you know it belongs to God, then you give, and you give with gladness. I am so happy that I can do this as a demonstration of giving. It is very personal. It is between God and who I am.

Baruch Bashan.

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