We learn here the true secret of Christian giving, the secret, in fact,
of all true Christian living--the joy of the Holy Ghost. How much of our
giving then has there been in which this element has been too much
lacking. Habit, example, human argument and motive, the thought of duty,
or the feeling of the need around us, have had more to do with our
charities than the power and love of the Spirit. It is not that what
has just been mentioned is not needful. The Holy Spirit makes use of all
these elements of our nature in stirring us to give. There is a great
need for inculcating principles and fixed habits in regard to giving.
But what we need to realize is that all this is but the human side, and
cannot suffice if we are to give in such measure and spirit as to make
every gift a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God and a blessing to our own
souls. The secret of true giving is the joy of the Holy Ghost.
The complaint in the Church as to the terrible need of more money for
God's work, as to the terrible disproportion between what God's people
spend on themselves and devote to their God, is universal. The pleading
cry of many of God's servants who labor for the poor and the lost, is
often heart-piercing. Let us take to heart the solemn lesson: this is
simply a proof of the limited measure in which the power of the Holy
Spirit is known among believers. Let us for ourselves pray most
fervently, that our whole life may be so lived in the joy of the Holy
Spirit, a life so absolutely yielded to Him and His rule, that all our
giving may be a spiritual sacrifice, through Jesus Christ.
Our second Pentecostal lesson on money we find in Acts iii. 6: "Then
Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but what I have that give I
thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" Here it is: _The
Holy Spirit dispensing with money_.
Our first lesson was: The Church of Pentecost needs money for its work;
the Spirit of Pentecost provides money; money may be at once a sure
proof of the Spirit's mighty working, and a blessed means of opening the
way for His fuller action.
But there is a danger ever near. Men begin to think that money is the
great need; that abundance of money coming in is a proof of the Spirit's
presence; that money must be strength and blessing. Our second lesson
dissipates these illusions, and teaches us how the power of the Spirit
can be shown where there is no money. The Holy Spirit is the mighty
power of God, now condescending to use the money of His saints, then
again proving how divinely independent He is of it. The Church must
yield herself to be guided into this double truth; the Holy Spirit
claims all its money; the Holy Spirit's mightiest works may be wrought
without it. The Church must never beg for money as if this were the
secret of her strength.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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