Universal principles

I've been doing some thinking about universal principles this week. The term came up a little while back when my father-in-law and I were talking about the Mormons. (Although I give him credit for showing me these things, he shall remain nameless in order to keep from sullying his good name by connecting it to this site.)

Even though I admire their apparent devotion to family and am convicted by their zeal for missions, the Mormons and I aren't exactly on the same page when it comes to Jesus and the Bible, at least according to what I've gleaned from the courteous young men named Elder So-and-so who periodically come to my door. It seems, though, that they as a people group are fairly successful in business and personal wealth management. Whether that's actually true across the board or not I don't know, but it's a good public image they maintain.

My father-in-law's position was that the Mormons are successful because of their adherence to certain principles, namely providing for the needy inside and outside the church. His thought was that some principles are universal, so they apply regardless of religious belief. In this case it would seem that the Mormon's success is tied to a principle along the lines of Malachi 3:10, although there are many other verses that would apply, some possibly better than this example. It seemed like a reasonable explanation at the time, but it has become real to me lately in my own life. Just in the last few months I have practiced, shall we say, "delayed obedience" (yeah, I know what that really is; I just hate saying it) that seemed to actually put me in a bind, and eventual obedience, even though it was somewhat late, did appear to bring about great blessing in several situations over the past week.

I'm not a theologian, and I don't want to get into the tithing debate, but I must say that I have seen a correlation between giving and blessing in my life. The timing of these events, especially recently, has been too mechanical to simply be coincidence.

Unlike some of my other posts, I don't pretend to have the answers here. I don't know the formula God uses, what determines the form in which the blessing comes, or what other universal principles may be out there. I know there is the unseen "eternal perspective," and I do not discount that a bit; in fact, it is obviously the more important consideration, as provision for the needy can often serve to draw them to Christ. I do, however, find it intriguing to think that there is some scientific principle at work aside from mere obedience for unseen reward in the afterlife.

I welcome comments, as always, and would love to hear your perspective on it.