During her long lifetime of 94
years, Fanny J. Crosby, the famed
blind composer of
many religious hymns,
often recounted the story
of a minister
who spoke as
a guest in a
church one morning.
He was accompanied by
his little son.
After the
worship service the
minister recalled that
no offering had been
taken, and, as he
was in the
habit of never going to the Lord's house without presenting an
offering, he left a coin
in the offering box that he
noticed beside the door.
As he and
his son walked away
from the church, one of the
church officers came running
after them, saying, "It is our
custom here to
give to the
preacher whatever we find in
the offering box
after the service." And
the man handed to
the minister the
coin he himself
had left there. Whereupon the little boy looked up
into his father's face and observed,
"Papa, if you
had given more,
you would
have gotten more, wouldn't
you?"
In his
simple, but striking comment,
the little boy underlined the
Biblical principle given
by inspiration and penned
by the wise
writer centuries ago:
"A man may spend freely and yet grow richer; another is
sparing beyond measure, yet ends in
poverty." (Proverbs 11:24,
N.E.B.)* Jesus made it
clear that the
last days would
be dominated by men having
a strong materialistic attitude.
Eating, drinking, building, and
hoarding money would
be central in the
thinking, talking, and
doings of men.
We who live in
the seventies when
so many other
of the last
signs are being fulfilled,
can hardly avoid
noticing the realization also of
those prophecies. And
further: We find
it difficult to avoid
being influenced by the same
attitudes ourselves.
The Lord's Sacred Claims
First of all: There is.
no question about
the fact that God
calls us to
be stewards. "As
every man hath
received the gift, even
so minister the same
to one another,
as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God" (I
Peter 4:10). "You are not
your own; your
Lord has sacred
claims upon your supreme
affections and the
very highest services
of your life ... to
the fullest extent
of your capabilities,
for His own honor
and glory."—Counsels on
Health, p. 385. Notice how wide the
scope of our responsibility is: "Stewards of
the manifold grace
of God" and
the "Lord has sacred
claims upon your
supreme affections and
the very highest services .
. . ."
The totality of life
is included: "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I
pray God your whole spirit and
soul and
body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:23).
This part
of a Christian's
relationship to God
is closely knit to
the atonement. He bought us with all that we are and have. He
did this, not
only to free
us from our
transgressions and their
consequences, but also
for a purpose while
serving Him here:
"What? know ye
not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and
ye are not
your own? For ye are bought
with a price:
therefore glorify God
in your body" (I
Corinthians 6:19, 20). To
glorify God because we are bought
with a price
takes in much
more than we
usually consider. Note this: "I will enforce truth on the conscience,
and men
shall be My
witnesses, throughout the
world asserting my
claims on man's
time, his money,
his intellect. All these I
purchased on the cross of Calvary ."—Testimonies,
VII, 159.
May these
words sink into
our minds: On
the cross Christ paid
the price, first
of all for
our sins, but He
also bought our time,
money, and intellect.
Everything now belongs to
Him, even though
he left the
administration to us. Therefore,
when we see
the fuller meaning of the
cross, it leads to
humility, thankfulness, acceptance,
and even dedication.
When Graf
von Zinzendorf, as a rich
young man in Germany,
stood one day
before a painting of
the suffering of Christ on the
cross, he noted
the words written under it: "All
this I suffered
for you. What have you done for me?" The picture and
the message touched his heart. Then and there
he decided to
give his life and
all that he
had to the Master's
service. He became
the founder of
the Hernhut Brudergemeine (Renewed
Brotherhood), a missionary
and religious leader. His strong
influence throughout his life was due to his deep personal devotion to Christ.
God's Only Way
"God permits us
to show our appreciation of His
mercies by self-sacrificing efforts to
extend the same
to others. This is
the only way
in which it
is possible for
us to manifest our gratitude and love
to God. He has provided no other." —Counsels on
Stewardship, pp. 18, 19.
Sometimes we
may wonder why
God chose "self-sacrificing efforts"
in order to
bring God's grace
to others, as "the only way" in which we can show
our love to God. Why did he provide “no other” way? Here
is at least
part of the answer:
"God could have
reached his object
in saving sinners without our aid;
but in order for us
to develop a character like
Christ's, we must
share in His
work. In order
to enter into His joy—the joy of seeing souls redeemed by His
sacrifice—we must participate
in His labors
for their redemption."—The Desire of Ages, p. 142.
In other words:
The greatest blessings flow
back to ourselves
as we try
to follow God's
plan. The following
words of Jesus that did
not get into
the Gospels but
which Dr. Luke placed
in the Book
of Acts, express
the experience of many
of God's children:
"It is more
blessed to give
than to receive" (Acts
20:35).
In the
light of this
instruction from Jesus,
we see that life
is not meant to be
a grab bag from which we
take those things we
desire. If that is our philosophy,
we shall indeed be deeply disappointed. Life
is rather an opportunity to share. It
will then go
out and multiply and return
to us in forms
we need, to
our own joy
and growth in
Christian experience.
Stewardship, in
its deep spiritual
and practical meaning,
is not only
acts or good deeds.
It is much more. It is an
experience. We share ourselves in the transactions. When this philosophy
dominates our lives, we open
doors to blessings we
could not obtain in
any other way.
STEWARD-SHIP DAY, therefore, offers
us an invitation
to stop and
consider life's true
priorities.
by ALF LOHNE ,Vice President General Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists
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