十月二十六日
你们盼望多得，所得的却少；你们收到家中，我就吹去。这是爲什麽呢？因爲我的殿荒凉，你们各人却顾自己的房屋。这是万军之耶和华说的。（该1：9）
吝啬的人不肯爲教会、传道人和宣教事业多奉献，认爲是省钱的妙算，其实他们幷没有想到这会使他们贫穷起来的。他们回护说，他们必须照应自己一家人的用度，他们却忘了忽略神的家，便是破坏自己的家的捷径。我们的神有一种办法，使我们的事业出乎意料之外地昌盛起来，或是使我们的计划成爲幻泡虚影；他的手一挥就可以使我们的船顺流而行，或者使它在贫困、破産之中搁了浅。
圣经的教训告诉我们说：神使慷慨的人丰富，却把贫困留给贪婪的人。我曾作了一番广泛的观察，发现我所认识的最热心捐钱的人都是最快乐，而且也都是一些凡事顺利的人。我曾看到慷慨捐输的人得了梦想不到的财富；我也常看到一些鄙吝的人虽然百般努力想发财，却是日渐衰落下去。人们常把很多的钱财托付一位好管家，神也是这样；他以车辆的满载赐给那以升斗奉献的人。
神所要的十分之一，在分别爲圣的人看来幷不算多，因爲一切财富他都不看作是自己的，所以他甘心奉献给神。自私常叫人先看到自己的家，而虔敬的人却先看到神的国和他的义，但至终看来自私是吃亏的事，虔敬爲神乃是最上算的事。我们对神大方宽宏必须有信心，但他已经爲我们存留了那信心；我们所能作的，只不过是感激他的洪恩大爱罢了。我们实在是亏欠他，这一点感激之心又算得什麽呢？
October
26
“Ye
looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did
blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is
waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.”–Haggai 1:9
Churlish souls stint their contributions
to the ministry and missionary operations, and call such saving good economy;
little do they dream that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their excuse
is that they must care for their own families, and they forget that to neglect
the house of God is the sure way to bring ruin upon their own houses. Our God
has a method in providence by which he can succeed our endeavours beyond our
expectation, or can defeat our plans to our confusion and dismay; by a turn of
his hand he can steer our vessel in a profitable channel, or run it aground in
poverty and bankruptcy. It is the teaching of Scripture that the Lord enriches
the liberal and leaves the miserly to find out that withholding tendeth to
poverty. In a very wide sphere of observation, I have noticed that the most
generous Christians of my acquaintance have been always the most happy, and
almost invariably the most prosperous. I have seen the liberal giver rise to
wealth of which he never dreamed; and I have as often seen the mean, ungenerous
churl descend to poverty by the very parsimony by which he thought to rise. Men
trust good stewards with larger and larger sums, and so it frequently is with
the Lord; he gives by cartloads to those who give by bushels. Where wealth is
not bestowed the Lord makes the little much by the contentment which the
sanctified heart feels in a portion of which the tithe has been dedicated to
the Lord. Selfishness looks first at home, but godliness seeks first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, yet in the long run selfishness is loss,
and godliness is great gain. It needs faith to act towards our God with an open
hand, but surely he deserves it of us; and all that we can do is a very poor
acknowledgment of our amazing indebtedness to his goodness.
