Conference Talk of the Week

Overview

Elder Patricio M. Giuffra teaches that tithing is a law of faith, and that paying it shows you trust the Lord. His main story comes from his mission in Puerto Montt, Chile. A woman about 70 years old earned barely enough for rent, firewood, and food, and she believed she could never pay tithing. Elder Giuffra wondered whether her situation might be an exception. His mission president read him the account of the widow's mite and told him there are no exceptions to this commandment. She then prayed for help to live the law, was baptized, and afterward brought her tithing and fast offering faithfully. Elder Giuffra goes on to explain why members keep this law: out of love for God, not only for the blessings. He adds teachings from President Russell M. Nelson on breaking cycles of poverty and from President Dallin H. Oaks on how tithing prepares us for the law of consecration, and he closes with the Lord's promise in Malachi 3 to open the windows of heaven.

Three Key Takeaways

• 1The law of tithing has no exceptions for poverty. Elder Giuffra's mission president read him the account of the widow's mite and told him he had no right to deny a struggling sister the blessings of this law. Her answer was to ask Heavenly Father to help her live it, and she did.
• 2Elder Giuffra's wife teaches that we keep the commandments because we love God, not mainly to receive blessings. Commandments draw us closer to the Savior and protect us from sin. Obedience does not remove trials, but the Lord knows our circumstances and keeps His promises in His own time and way.
• 3President Russell M. Nelson taught that tithing can break cycles of poverty that pass from one generation to the next. Elder Giuffra has seen this in Central America: families who once worried about their next meal now live with more stability, and people who once could not afford shoes now run businesses through faith and hard work.

Reflection Questions

• The sister in Puerto Montt prayed that Heavenly Father would help her live a law she could not see how to keep. Is there a commandment you have treated as impossible for your circumstances, and what would it look like to ask the Lord for help with it?
• Elder Giuffra's wife teaches that we obey because we love God, not only for the blessings. When you pay tithing and fast offerings, what is your main reason, and how might that reason grow?
• Elder Giuffra says blessings come 'in His own time and way' and often in ways we do not expect. Looking back, what blessings, temporal or spiritual, can you now trace to faithfully living the law of tithing?