Heaven can be experienced not just up there but down here as well. That is heaven on earth.

    If men on earth will just obey the will of God in heaven, men on earth will feel the extension of heaven.

    2 Corinthians 9:8 ("And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.") speaks of abundant blessings shared to charity. It implies that obedience to the One has its own heavenly rewards.

    1 Corinthians 16:1-2 ("Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.") talks about missionary work for our brethren. It strengthens our zeal to persevere with our labors of love through our many  spiritual and corporal acts of mercy in our Divine Mercy on the Block crusade, Hapag ng Buhay soup kitchen (soon on wheels), CLSS, "This Is Your Day!" radio program (which is up for round-the-clock nationwide broadcast).

     Malachi 3:6-10 poses a challenge as it asserts that life on earth is meant to be lived and built for the well-meaning kingdom of God, and not for the meaningless empire of man. It brings us to realization that giving is in itself a blessing; and the giver is always blessed abundantly. To state; “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, How shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, How have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, “says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

    Time and again, the Parable of the Talents as narrated in Matthew 25:14-24, 28 reverberates constantly the basic life essential: the more you give, the more you get. To quote: “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

    To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

    Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.

    In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.

    But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

    Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

    The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’

    “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good man faithful slave. You were faithful with few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.

    Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.

       “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good man faithful slave. You were faithful with few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.

    And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

    Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.”

    In the end, let us be thankful not because we have given Him the 10% tithes, but because God has so generously given us the 90%. Now, that is what we call blessings of abundance. Yes and amen!

        100%    Income/Blessing

        10%    Tithes

        90%    Left - the visible sign of God’s love and care for man