Owr Lord’s Teachings About Money 47 alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious, and the houses and lands of such as Barnabas, but fishermen's boats and nets, the abandoned “seat of custom,” the widow’s mites, and the cup of cold water-—yes, when we had nothing else to give, the word of counsel, the tear of pity, the prayer of intercession. Then shall be seen both the limitless possibilities and the “transcendent riches” of consecrated poverty. Never will the work of missions, or any other form of service to God and man, receive the help it ought until there is a new conscience and a new consecration in the matter of money. The influence of the world and the worldly spirit is deadening to unselfish giving. It exalts self-indulgence, whether in gross or refined form. It leads to covetous hoard ing or wasteful spending. It blinds us to the fact o f obliga tion, and devises flimsy pretexts, for diverting the Lord’s money to carnal ends. The few who learn to give on Scrip tural principles learn also to love to give. These gifts become abundant and systematic and self-denying. The stream of beneficence flows perpetually—there is no period of drought. Once it was necessary to proclaim to the people of God that what they had brought “was more than enough,” and to “restrain them from bringing” (Ex. 36:6). So far as known, this is the one and only historic instance of such excess of generosity. But should not that always be the case? Is it not a shame and disgrace that there ever should be a lack of “meat in God’s house” ? When His work appeals for aid, should there ever be a reluctance to respond or a doling out of a mere pittance? Surely His unspeakable gift should make all giving to Him a spontaneous offering of love that, like Mary’s, should bring its precious flask of spikenard and lavish its treasures on His feet, and fill the house with the odor of self-sacrifice !
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