Corinthians 9:7: “Let each do ac cording as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of neces sity : for God loveth a cheerful (a hi larious) giver.” THE VALLEY I have been through the valley of weeping. The valley of sorrow and pain; But the “God of all comfort“ was with me, At hand to uphold and sustain. As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine, Our souls need both sorrow and joy; So He places us oft in the furnace, The dross from the gold to destroy. When He leads through some valley of trouble. His powerful hand we can trace; For the trials and sorrows He sends us Are part of His lessons of grace. Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning, Forgetting the Husbandman knows The deeper the cutting and paring, The richer the cluster that grows. Well He knows that affliction is needed; He has a wise purpose in view, And in the dark valley He whispers, "Hereafter thou'lt know what I do." As we travel through life's shadowed valley, Fresh springs of His love ever rise; And we learn that our sorrows and losses Are blessings just sent in disguise. So we'll follow wherever He leadeth, Though pathways be dreary or bright; For we've proof that our God can give comfort, Our God can give songs in the night. The sixth reason we should give, the highest reason in all the uni verse, is stated in II Corinthians 8 :9 : “For ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might become rich.” What an infinite reason to give: because the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself. He gave all. In the last place, we have the re ward for giving in II Corinthians 9:6. This passage tells us that “He that soweth sparingly shall reap, also spar ingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” There is going to be a bountiful reaping for bountiful sowing, a wonderful re ward. The eighth verse states that “God is able to make all grace abound unto you: that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything may abound unto every good work.” Three things need to be remem bered in Christian giving. First, the person, or to whom we give: it is to the Lord. Throughout the Old Testa ment it is unto the Lord. In Philip- pians 4:18 Paul says they gave an offering, “an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.” We do not give to some proj ect, to some worthy cause, to some wonderful objective, but to the LORD. Secondly, in Christian giving there is a principle of how to give; first of all, it must be systematically. It is not hit or miss, not hapzardly, not off and on, but I Corinthians 16:2 declares: “Upon the first day of the week” . . . every week of every year and every week of every month. You can never have joy in your exercise of Christian stewardship until you do it systematically. Let your giving not only be systematically, but individu ally. I Corthians 16:2: “Let every one of you lay by . . .” ; it has to be an individual matter. Then we are to give sacrificially. In Luke 21, verses 3 and 4, we read about the widow’s mite; she gave all the living that she had. She gave sacrificially. Some folk say: “Give until it hurts.” That is not a proper principle, because giving hurts some people too soon. The Mace donian churches gave out of “their deep poverty.” That was giving, not 18
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter