John D Rockefeller Secret to Success

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" - Luke 6:38

John D Rockefeller Sr., the U.S first billionaire. I recently re-read Titan: The Life of John D Rockefeller Sr. by Ron Chernow. It is the best biography of Rockefeller thus far. What most people don't know is that he was a deeply devoted to God, the church, and his family. He was also the biggest tither. He gave away more than required in response to the needs of society and his love for God.

"Yes, I tithe, and I would like to tell you how it came about. I had to begin work as a small boy to help support my mother. My first wages amounted to $1.50 per week. The first week after I went to work. I took the $1.50 home to my mother and she held the money in her lap and explained to me that she would be happy if I would give tenth of it to the Lord. I did, and from that week until to this day I have tithed every dollar God has entrusted to me. And I want to say, if I had not tithed the first dollar I made I would not have tithed the first million dollars I made." - John D Rockefeller

Everyone wants to end their money worries. Despite unparalleled affluence in the Western World, personal bankruptcies are soaring and consumer credit has never been higher. There are millions of people around the world are literally just “one paycheck from the street." Even the U.S. national debt is measured in trillions of dollars, requiring hundreds of billions in annual interest payments. None of this need be.

John D Rockefeller knew in his own words, "God gave me money" and so he embraced John Wesley's saying, "Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can." As Ephesians 4:28 says, "Let the thieft no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." Thus, instead of scheming in business as his father had done, Rockefeller worked hard so that he could earn money so that he could in turn give to others. 

So why does God ask us to give 10% to Him? God doesn't want our money. Tithing was created for our benefit to teach us how to keep God first in our lives and how to be unselfish people. God is trying to teach us how to prosper over time just like John D Rockefeller. If you cannot live off 90% of your income, then you cannot live off 100%. It's about discipline of the heart, not the wallet. 

In 1959 a famous author "Ending Your Financials Worries", the late Herbert W Armstrong says "the key to financials success is to realize an important biblical fact. Your income is not yours! Every dollar, every point, every franc, every mark. Your maker who gives you the very air you breathe tells you it all belongs to Him, not to you! If you work for bank, and you take some of the bank's money, that is embezzlement. 

But stealing from the God who gives you your breath of life, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, that is far worse in His eyes! Pay up God's tithes first and assure yourself of God's special financials blessing, so you can pay off your debts to humans." (Good News, January 1979) This is why there is strong correlation between tithing and prosperity. Rockefeller serves as a great example of what it means to be a good steward of what God has given us.

Rockefeller sum up his life. I was early taught to work as well as play. My life has been one long, happy holiday, full of work and full of play. I dropped the worry on the way, and God was good to me every day.