THE FIRST KIND OF GIVING

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Giving is the first step in receiving. When you want to receive, give! However, there are three kinds of giving. All three are equally necessary to your long term growth and success.
First. Give to God, Put Him first financially. Why? As explained in Buddhism and elsewhere, this is the first quality to be developed in your character on the road to Enlightenment. Many conscientious people study self-help methods galore, yet do not receive the benefits from them that they should because they ignore this first step.
Various schemes have been suggested for getting rich quick. Most of them fail because they are based on ''getting'' -- not ''giving.'' They have no spiritual basis. The reason many people fail to receive their good in life is because they do not practice giving or returning impersonally to the universe on a systematic basis a portion of all that the universe shares with them.
Two businessmen in Chicago once told me they had held the local franchise on one of the most famous success courses in America, one that cost thousands of dollars to take. Though they prospered for a time, they eventually went broke. They finally realized why: Their course had only emphasized "getting"-- not "giving." Their course had not taught the spiritual side of prosperity. It had not taught its students to tithe their way to prosperity by returning to the universe a tenth of all they received. It was only after these two businessmen found their way into one of the local New Thought churches and began to put God first financially, that their financial affairs stabilized and they began permanently prosper.
When any person withholds that which belongs to the universe, his life is thrown oot of balance, and he experiences lack in some form. It may be lack of supply, lack of health, lack of love, lack of spiritual understanding, or lack of directlon in his life. It is only as we let go of our littleness that we can expand into the larger life.
So it is not enough to say that you believe God is the Source of your supply (as previously suggested). You must prove that you believe God is the Source of your supply by first sharing with Him. This keeps you in touch with a universal source of abundance.
The billionaire Solomon pointed out what the wise use this ancient success method could mean to you when he advised: "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine.' (Proverbs 3:9, 10)*