Recently I had a sum of money sent me with instructions to pass it on to certain needy people. The individuals to receive it were not mentioned, nor was the exact method of distribution specified. The letter further stated that the money was only to be sent in case of real need, and gave permission to reserve part for my own use in case I was in need.
Now, I should like to ask what my reader’s thought is about this matter? Am I compelled to go to the trouble of ascertaining who are the proper persons to receive this money? They do not even live in the same country that I do, and considerable trouble and care must be expended to use this money wisely and well. Am I responsible to see to all this? My time is already fully occupied. Must I let other important things go to do this?
But further, am I compelled to bear the full responsibility of the sending, and the method of distribution? Or may I not deposit it in the bank, and tell the giver to see to it himself?
Now, not only are there the difficulties mentioned, but I could very easily use the money myself. It is true, I am in no desperate need, but there are many things I would like to do with it, and there is plenty of need all about me.
Would it not be easier, and perhaps wiser to keep it all, or at least a part for myself? or am I a debtor to the needy persons for whom it was sent? Their need is very great undoubtedly, but perhaps other people will send to them. May I keep the money, or must I send it?
I fear the universal verdict will be that the money must be sent. Certainly I am a debtor to these people, some of them unknown.
Along with that letter, and that money, came the responsibility to attend to the sending, to select the individuals to receive it, and the fact that I was a debtor until it was dispatched. Whether I liked it or not, did not change the situation. To use that money myself was practically robbery, and to put it in the bank, while those for whom it was intended were starving, did not help matters either. The fact of their need, and the funds in my hand unquestionably made me a debtor.
But another question, Friend, Are you a debtor? Have you been entrusted with unsearchable riches, and with instructions to pass on the good news to others? Have you done so?
Every believer who knows himself saved through the cross and death of our Lord Jesus Christ should feel the obligation of gratitude to make his Saviour known to others.
There is no corner of this poor world but what needs that saving message of the love of God in Christ. Hospitals, poor farms, jails, penitentiaries, children’s homes, orphanages, sanitariums, reformatories, railway cars, ocean vessels, street cars, parks, sea side resorts, waiting rooms, from door to door, by way of the mail are some of the places that invite the seeker after souls to sow his precious seed. The silent ministry of tracts and gospel periodicals is a limitless and blessed avenue of service in the gospel.
Not all can go to the foreign field, but each should feel his indebtedness to grace, and seek to discharge it by a definite effort to reach the lost with the gospel. To recline at ease with the thought that the “gospel preachers” will take care of the spread of the gospel is a delusion. Scripture says,
Have we found our sphere of service, and, if so, Are we faithful stewards in discharging our responsibility to our blessed Lord?
Are there any, perhaps in another country, who are starving while you keep this treasure, greater than gold or silver, “in the bank”? Or maybe buried in a napkin? Or maybe you are using it for yourself? How about it, friend? Have you ever come to the point of confessing, “I am a debtor.” If you have confessed it, what are you doing about paying the debt?
Do you realize that the reception of those unsearchable riches instantly involved you in the responsibility of imparting the news of them?
It is true, the exact individuals to whom you are to impart them, have not been specified, but this only means a further responsibility for you. The Word of God gives a strong hint to guide us as to whom these are to be given.
The one who confessed, “I am a debtor”, in the same letter could write, “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named” (Rom. 15:2020Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: (Romans 15:20)), or in another letter would express the hope “to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you” (2 Cor. 10:1616To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. (2 Corinthians 10:16)). Do you strive to pay your debt to the persons so indicated?
Perhaps you say, “But I don’t know of any such place.” Then, friend, it is your responsibility to find out. It is from such a place I write, and for days and days you might journey in almost any direction, and still be where the gospel has not been preached.
Do you know that millions upon millions are starving for want of the Bread of Life, and you have it, and are a debtor to them as truly as I was until that money was paid?
The method of “paying” is also your responsibility. Possibly you can’t go yourself and take the message, but more likely you can. This surely must be settled between you and the Giver; but Dare you, friend, put this question aside another day?
The need is infinite. The need is urgent. The need is Now. The ones to whom you owe, are starving while you feast on fat things. What does the Giver think of it?
“But”, you say, “I haven’t the money.”
“But, I haven’t even the money for my passage.”
Well, are you ready to start? When God said to Israel, “Go forward,” if they had waited till the sea divided before they moved, they would still be on the other side of the Red Sea; and if you wait till the sea opens before you move, you may as well make up your mind to stay where you are.
I have a dear friend who had only 6 cents when the time came to start for the train on which he was to leave for the foreign field. It was enough to pay his street car fare to the station. Do you think he stuck at the station? Or that he had to walk home? No, God is faithful, and that man is on the foreign field today.
“Well” you say, “if God would make windows in heaven might such a thing be”, and God Himself answers you.
“Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:1010Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10).