 Some people expect tremendous things of their Creator. They expect God to be liberal, and pray for abundance of health, and ask Him to pour material blessings and all good without stint. Yet they are very mean and stingy in everything that relates to their religion, contemptible in their charities, in their assistance of others, in their help of the church. Did you ever think that your attitude towards your fellow man, towards the poor, the unfortunate, your treatment of the Creator's institutions here on earth, your treatment of His children, constitute your treatment of Him? "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Many people seem to think that the Creator is some power entirely separate from human beings, and that their dealings must be directly with Him. I knew of a man who said he thanked God that there was one good thing in the world that was cheap.—that he did not believe his religion cost him over twenty-five cents a year. He got just about twenty-five cents worth out of his religion annually. Our religions are slot machines, and if we put in a quarter, we get out only a quarter's worth. We get out of a thing what we put into it. If we are stingy with God, he will necessarily be stingy with us, because it is our acts that open or close the gates of our minds,—the gates of appreciation and of happiness. The farmer who is stingy with his seed corn gets a stingy harvest. The Creator does not crowd our lives with rich things when we are mean with Him. We limit our receptive capacity by what we give out. We get a stingy education, if we are stingy in study. We must give liberally before we get, in every department of life. I have never known a person who is mean in giving time, sympathy, and money to the church, who ever got much out of it. The Creator will not flood your life with good things, with fat things, when you are so mean that you will not give up a cent if you can possible avoid it, or give time and helpfulness. We limit out receipts. The Creator cannot give us more than we will allow Him. What we get must come through our mental avenues, and, if these are closed by ourselves, even the Almighty cannot reach us with abundance. Have you not known people too contemptible to get very much out of life, anyway? It pains them to give up anything. They think every dollar they get is theirs. They do not look upon themselves as trustees for the general benefit of their fellow man. It is the large-hearted, generous, magnanimous man and woman that gets the blessings. He who gives out gets back; our own acts determine our harvest. If we are liberal and open-handed, our harvest will be rich and abundant. Small souls cut off their own supply. They limit what they get by their narrowness, pinchiness. The Good Book gives us the recipe for getting. "Give and it shall be given unto thee." "To him that hath shall be given." It ought to make you feel mean to slip a nickel, or less, into the contribution box of your church, which you pretend means so much to you. Others may not see, or know of your stingy gift. But you know that such a thing would be considered mean and contemptible between businessmen. And what shall we say of such a transaction between yourself and your God? I have seen people who were well fixed in life put coppers into the contribution box, just because they thought others would not know how much they gave. What stories of lying, of deception, the church contribution box could tell! How mortified, humiliated, disgraced many men and women would be if these boxes could tell the truth to the congregation! Some people who would be liberal on a subscription paper, because other people would know what they gave, would cheat their God when the contribution box was passed. If you cannot be conscientious in your giving to your Maker, can there be any conscientiousness in your character? If you are not true to your God, will you be true to your fellow man or true to yourself? |
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