Liberal Church
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Unselfish liberality threw the early church into a transport of joy;
for the believers knew that their efforts were helping to send the gospel
message to those in darkness. Their benevolence testified that they
had not received the grace of God in vain. What could produce such
liberality but the sanctification of the Spirit? In the eyes of believers
and unbelievers it was a miracle of grace.
Spiritual prosperity is closely bound up with Christian liberality.
The followers of Christ should rejoice in the privilege of revealing in
their lives the beneficence of their Redeemer. As they give to the Lord
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they have the assurance that their treasure is going before them to the
heavenly courts. Would men make their property secure? Let them
place it in the hands that bear the marks of the crucifixion. Would
they enjoy their substance? Let them use it to bless the needy and
suffering. Would they increase their possessions? Let them heed the
divine injunction, “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 presses shall burst out with new wine.”
Proverbs 3:9, 10
. Let
them seek to retain their possessions for selfish purposes, and it will
be to their eternal loss. But let their treasure be given to God, and from
that moment it bears His inscription. It is sealed with His immutability.
God declares, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.”
Isaiah
32:20
. A continual imparting of God’s gifts wherever the cause of God
or the needs of humanity demand our aid, does not tend to poverty.
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withhold-
eth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”
Proverbs 11:24
. The
sower multiplies his seed by casting it away. So it is with those who
are faithful in distributing God’s gifts. By imparting they increase their
blessings. “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” God has promised;
“good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,
shall men give into your bosom.”
Luke 6:38
.
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