November, 1936
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
413
Around
the King's By PAUL W. ROOD
Table
— pH
Satan an d F inances
Some time ago, a friend sent us an article having the adjoining caption. The title of the article was indelibly impressed upon the
Why We Are T h an k fu l
“In. every thin? give t.^lanlcs : for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concern- ing you” (1 Thess. 5:18). The Thessa-
lonian Christians were admonished to give thanks because thanksgiving was the will of God for them. I t is also the will of God for us. Thanksgiving pleases and honors God. In our prayers, thanksgiving is too frequently neglected and our needs and present desires occupy the whole of the prayer. The command and lesson for us to learn is to thank God for everything. The true saints in all ages have been thankful—we are inspired to follow their example. David understood the importance of praise and made this holy resolve: “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psa. 34:1), In singing the doxology we unite in fellowship with the saints of history, now in glory® as well as with the contemporary saints. When we realize that all blessings, both spiritual and temporal, come from God, and when we acknowledge our utter dependence upon Him, we cannot be other than thankful. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17). We have a tendency to take'things for granted;- we need, therefore, to heed the Psalmist’s plea to “forget not all his benefits.” The depression has taken nothing from us. The beauties of nature, the sunsets, the rainbows, the rivers and water falls, the trees—these have not been destroyed. No real friend has been lost because of the depression. As a mat ter of fact, most worth-while assets possess the same value as ever. God makes no mistakes in dealing with His children. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). God is still on the throne; it is He who controls the circumstances and experiences of life for the purpose of enhancing our spiritual welfare. We, therefore, ought to be thankful. During these trying days we are privileged to learn new lessons. We are learning to trust God, and we are proving and finding that our God is faithful. Philippians 4:19 is still in the Bible: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Paul’s God is your God and my God; He is able and willing to care for His own. We have reason to thank God for the institutions and churches which are standing true to God in these days of apostasy. For the opportunities which we have to serve the Lord, we should offer much thanksgiving. . Above all, we should thank God for His unspeakable gift, the cruci fied, risen, ascended, and coming Lord. He will be con queror over all of His foes, and He it will be who will win the battle which is now raging between light and dark ness, truth and error, righteousness and unrighteousness. We are on the winning side when we are soldiers in Christ’s army. Therefore, in a world of pessimism we should be optimistic; in a world of ingratitude, we should be thankful. Let us thank God and take courage.
memory and has led to meditation, while the content has been forgotten. Certainly Satan is interested in finances. He is the god of this materialistic age and is the source of the materialistic philosophy that dominates our day. The adversary seeks to so absorb people with material and tran sitory things that they will not have time or inclination to think of spiritual and eternal values. Some people are willing to sell their souls in order to secure material gain because Satan has blinded them to eternal riches. Many are kept from Christ because of their love for the pleasures, philosophies, and wealth of this world. What the Word of God says in 1 John 2:15-17 is pertinent to this discus sion : “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Not only is the unbeliever kept from Christ by the love of money, but frequently the believer is tempted to seek first the things of this world, and secondly “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” The Bible is filled with warnings against materialism. Many Christians have lost their testimony and influence because of their preoccupa tion with material gain. Some professing Christians have even become unscrupulous in their desperate attempts to secure more filthy lucre. Others who are not deliberately dishonest have allowed an inflamed imagination to lead them to urge friends into speculative investment projects which have been failures, and have caused bitterness and broken friendship, and. have ruined the testimony. Other Christians have failed to recognize their responsibility as stewards, robbing God of tithes and offerings. Some people are dominated by avarice, a characteristic with which Satan is well pleased. If every Christian would study the teach ings of Christ concerning money and stewardship, and act accordingly, no evangelical church or enterprise would lack funds. Satan is not only active in keeping Christians from giv ing, but when he finds a Christian with true conceptions and earnest convictions concerning his duties as a steward, he endeavors also to divert the gifts into philanthropic enterprises not affiliated with God’s program, or into formal religious organizations having no evangelical mes sage. The devil is very active in these matters. Why are modernistic schools and churches heavily endowed while evangelical enterprises find it difficult to carry on? The answer is at hand. The adversary has induced Christians to place their money in such undertakings and enterprises as will further his purposes. When will evangelical Chris tians awaken to their responsibility in giving, and exercise discrimination with regard to where they give, and into what they place God’s money? Satan desires to destroy every evangelical school, spiritual enterprise, and church [Continued on page 451]
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