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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
November, 1937
Girls' Query Corner Conducted by M yr tle E. S cott
holds. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul ad monished both system and proportion in giving. “ Upon the first day of the . week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” Paul is writing to a New Testament church in Old Testament terms. “Let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath pros pered him.” He does not have to mention specifically the tenth. That proportion is understood all through the teaching of the Word of God, and Paul is here teaching regularity and promptness of meeting obli gations to the Lord. Where Does Sacrificial Giving Begin? Today there frequently is heard talk of the church’s being supported by the volun tary gifts of God’s people. There is no such thing taught in the Scriptures. The tenth is the expected obligation of the Christian. As a matter of fact, under the Old Testament system, the Jew in many cases gave up to one-half of his income. He did not stop at the tenth. Christians do not start giving freewill offerings until they have first given the tenth. Perhaps some one says, “ I believe in giving until you feel it.” What a system! One feels it when he gives five cents to the Lord, and does not feel it when he pays ten dollars for a football game. We often give according to our meanness in stead of according to our means! Another says, “ I give as much as a tithe or more, though I do not keep a strict account of my gifts.” God expects you to be exact in your accounting, or He would never have been specific in His system. “ God loveth a cheerful giver,” and of course the tithe is to be brought willingly, but cheerful giving begins after the deduction of the tithe. Check yourself, and you who thought you 'were a very lib eral giver may be surprised to see how far short you have fallen of what God expects of you. Roger Babson, the statistician, says: “The church people of this country are giving less than one per cent of their income to church and missionary work.” W e are prone to magnify our small gifts and to convince ourselves that we are doing much for Christ and a lost world. The gift of our Lord Jesus Christ was His life poured out unto death in our stead! ■ Sacrifice? We shun the very word! The cost of the World War was approximately twenty-five thousand dollars for every sol dier who was killed. Christian missions are conducted in the homeland at the cost of seven dollars for every person saved, and on the foreign field at the rate of seven cents for every person saved. Which cause is more worthy of sacrifice? Where will kings and empires and wars be in “the day of Jesus Christ” ? In that day,; where will be all the “ legitimate” causes that call upon your personal treas ury? What monuments to your wise in vesting will you show Him in that hour? Let us look upon this great matter in the light of eternity. As you come before God at this present Thanksgiving season, are you robbing Him?
Questions for answer in this corner should be sent to Miss Scott, 8961 Dicks St., West Hollywood, Calif., and a stamped envelope should be enclosed for reply. No name will appear with the questions chosen for publication. Dear Miss Scott:
are broken at the one end by sin and by lack of prayer or at the other end by lack of obedience to His call for service, there will be no light. Often I have been blessed by this motto, hanging on the wall in the home of one of my friends: “Pray—commit—rest.” If you have done the first two things, it is time to rest your case in your Father’s hands. “Behold your God” until your heart over flows with love for Him and with His love for a needy world. With your heart and hands filled with glad service for Him, there is no question but that the “joy of the Lord” will be your portion. Why should we give to God a tithe of all that we possess? We discover in Mala- chi 3 :8, that God commanded the people to bring their tithes into the storehouse, saying that if they did not do so, they were robbing Him. That is a tremendous charge. It is an expression that one would not dare use if it were not in the Word of God. “Ye have robbed me,” God says; and they ask, “Wherein have we robbed thee?” “ In tithes and offerings,” is the reply. The giving of the tithe was the system which God laid down for the sustenance of His work. “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord . . . And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even, of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord” (Lev. 27:30, 32). The Tithe in the Age of Grace There are some who say, “ The tithe is all right under the Law. We are under grace. This is a different dispensation.” However, the tithe is something that ante dates the giving of the Law at Sinai. In Genesis 14:18-20 there is a definite instance of the use of the tithe prior to the dispen sation of the Law: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God . . . And he gave him tithes of all.” Abram gave tithes to Melchizedek hundreds of years before the Law was given to man. The next refer ence to tithing in the Old Testament was Jacob’s vow to God in Genesis 28:22. “ Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” And this was five: hundred years before the Law was given! In the New Testament in the dispensa tion of grace, the obligation to tithe still GIVING AND THANKSGIVING [ Continued from page 423]
Will you please tell me how I may get back the joy of the Lord that I once had? Mine was a real experience, and therefore I know the reality His Presence can be in a life. I drifted away from Him, how ever, set my affection' on things of the earth and on worldly friendships, and lost the sense of His Presence. In deep re pentance, I have come back to Him seeking His forgiveness and surrendering my life anew to Him, but I cannot seem to get back to the place where I was. I have a feeling of lethargy and lukewarmness. Bible study, prayer, and church attendance are duties to which I must drive myself. I know my life cannot show a joy I do not feel, and until I am. assured of forgive ness and restoration, I am in no condition to work for Him. That bothers me, for there is much to be done and there are few to do it in our little church. I hope you can help me, for I am — “ M iserable .” My dear Girl: A discouraged Christian is one of Satan’s masterpieces I Is it not true that you are spending much more time feeling your spir itual pulse and comparing your spiritual condition with its former state, than you are spending in “ looking unto Jesus” ? Have you really put your sin behind you, or do you keep the memory of it handy so that you can bring it out fre quently to nurse and brood over? When 'God forgives, He forgets. If you have confessed and forsaken your sins, they are to Him as though they had never been. It is Satan’s work to taunt you by the remembrance of them. Read Psalms 32 and 51 until you can share the spirit of David in praise to God for the realization of forgiven sin. That knowledge, based on His Word and not your feelings, is enough to put a shout in your soul and a testimony on your lips just as it did for the Psalmist. Now read Philippians 3:13, 14, and say with Paul: “ Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Rise up in the strength of the Lord. Shake off that spirit of leth argy. God has work for you to do, and needy souls are waiting for you. God’s plan is for a double surrender of your life. The insulated electric light wire must be surrendered to the dynamo at one end and to the light bulb at the other end if that light wire is to fulfill its mission. Just so, if a life is to fulfill God’s purpose) it must be surrendered to Him for life and power and also to the needy souls of humanity for service* If the connections
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