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With Liberality, November 25
I Too May Conquer
There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that
withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The
liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be
watered also himself.
Proverbs 11:24, 25
It is God who blesses men with property, and He does this that they
may be able to give toward the advancement of His cause. He sends
the sunshine and the rain. He causes vegetation to flourish. He gives
health and the ability to acquire means. All our blessings come from
His bountiful hand. In turn, He would have men and women show their
gratitude by returning Him a portion in tithes and offerings—in thank
offerings, in freewill offerings, in trespass offerings. Should means flow
into the treasury in accordance with this divinely appointed plan—a tenth
of all the increase, and liberal offerings—there would be an abundance
for the advancement of the Lord’s work.
But the hearts of men become hardened through selfishness, and like
Ananias and Sapphira, they are tempted to withhold part of the price,
while pretending to fulfill God’s requirements. Many spend money
lavishly in self-gratification. Men and women consult their pleasure and
gratify their taste, while they bring to God, almost unwillingly, a stinted
offering. They forget that God will one day demand a strict account of
how His goods have been used.
Constant, self-denying benevolence is God’s remedy for the canker-
ing sins of selfishness and covetousness. God has arranged systematic
benevolence to sustain His cause and relieve the necessities of the suf-
fering and needy. He has ordained that giving should become a habit,
that it may counteract the dangerous and deceitful sin of covetousness.
Continual giving starves covetousness to death.... He requires the con-
stant exercise of benevolence, that the force of habit in good works may
break the force of habit in an opposite direction.
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