I had given out some gospel books in the village, and as I walked on down the street I was overtaken by a prosperous-looking man. He spoke to me and said he was glad to see me doing such a good work.
“Are you a Christian too?” I asked.
“Do you see that building over there? We had a meeting for the Sunday school there last evening,” he answered.
“Then you must be interested in such matters. Are you a Christian?” I repeated.
“We had a collection last evening for the Sunday school,” said he.
“Really! But are you a Christian?”
“I gave ten dollars to the good work. Besides doing the school good, that is a good example, isn’t it?”
“Well, but are you a Christian? Or, speaking more plainly” (for he seemed a little deaf as to my question), “are your sins forgiven? If you should die this moment, are you ready to enter God’s presence?”
“Humph,” muttered the old man; “who knows that? Haven’t I helped the good cause for the Almighty?”
“Then do you think that God needs your ten dollars?” I asked.
“I have helped on the good cause,” he said. Walking along more briskly he repeated: “Ten dollars, man! Money!”
“Man!” I cried, “Do you mean to go out of this world offering God your money? He is freely offering to you the value of the precious blood of Christ, and you are turning from the wonderful gift of His own dear Son to boast how you dragged out a bit of money from your unwilling pocket.”
At this point the annoyed man turned off to another street, and as he went I could hear him still repeating, “I gave ten dollars to the schools last night!”
He expressed his own opinion of his good deeds and generosity, but there are many like him who imagine that money given to the collection on Sunday or a large subscription to a charity is, to say the least, one step up the ladder to heaven.
Not so! The Apostle Peter said to Simon the Sorcerer, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
God’s way is very different. Sin earns wages, and the wages of sin is death, but eternal life is the gift of God . . . through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Are you earning the wages - or receiving the gift? v