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Generosity, March 21
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and
their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
2
Corinthians 8:2
.
It is only when Christian motives are fully acknowledged, and the con-
science is awake to duty, when divine light makes impressions upon the
heart and character, that selfishness is overcome, and the mind of Christ is
exemplified. The Holy Spirit, working upon human hearts and characters,
will expel all tendency to covetousness, to deceptive dealing.
When the Lord’s messenger bears a message to the church, God is speak-
ing to the people, awakening the conscience to see that they have not been
rendering an honest tithe to the Lord, and that when it was not convenient to
give, they have failed to present their offerings to Him. They have used the
Lord’s own money for themselves, in building houses, in purchasing horses,
carriages, or lands. They do this in the hope of large returns, and every year
they have the same excuse. “Will a man rob God?” (
Malachi 3:8
). Oh, yes,
he has done this many times, because he has not been spiritual, to discern the
spiritual things.
On some occasions the Lord has moved decidedly upon worldly, selfish
men. Their minds were illuminated by the Holy Spirit, their hearts felt its
softening, subduing influence. Under a sense of the abundant mercy and
grace of God, they felt it their duty to promote His cause, to build up His
kingdom. They remembered the requirement, “Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal” (
Matthew 6:19, 20
). They felt a desire to have a share in the
kingdom of God, and they pledged to give of their means to some of the
various enterprises of the Lord’s cause. That pledge was not made to man,
but to God in the presence of His angels, who were moving upon the hearts
of these selfish, money-loving men.—
The Review and Herald, May 23, 1893
.
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