And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
—Luke 19:13
6026 Meaning Of Stewardship
A man doesn’t decide to become a steward after he has been saved, nor after he begins to make good money. He is a steward—good or bad—when he becomes a Christian. Stewardship in the Christian life demands that a man take good care of his financial affairs because he has been commissioned by Christ to manage those affairs for the Lord.
6027 In Business For God
A businessman has no business being in business just to make money. Every businessman automatically is in danger of making money his god. Whenever he makes a decision in favour of his business as opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ, he has made money his god, for the moment, at least. He is favouring mammon, and his priorities are mixed.
It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of right priorities, especially in the business world, though these priorities apply to the life of every believer.
Advice not to mix Christianity and business is heresy of the worst kind. A man’s business, whatever it might be, ought to be an integrated and integral part of his Christianity. It either complements or opposes his spiritual stance.
—Walt Meloon
6028 Dining Table’s Two Extra Plates
In a recent address of Bishop Hughes, he spoke of a deacon in a certain Congregational church in Boston, who many years ago said to himself, “I cannot speak in prayer meeting, I cannot do many other things in Christian service, but I can put two extra plates on my dinner table every Sunday and invite two young men who are away from home to break bread with me.” He went along doing that for more than thirty years. He became acquainted with a great companv of young men who were attending that church, and many of them became Christians through his personal influence.
When he died he was to be buried in Andover, thirty miles distant, and because he was a well-known merchant, a special train was chartered to convey the funeral party. It was made known that any of his friends among the young men who had become Christians through his influence would be welcomed in a special car set aside for them. And a hundred and fifty of them came and packed that car from end to end in honor of the memory of the man who had preached to them the gospel of the extra dinner plate.
—Aquilla Webb
6029 Leftovers
Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve them to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.
We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there,
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.
We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To Him the remnant of our life.
—Author Unknown
6030 $1 To Each Member
Taking a leaf from Jesus’ parable about the man given a talent, the Aldersgate United Methodist Church of Wilmington, Delaware, recently mailed a $1 bill to each of its 1,129 members and asked them to multiply it for the church’s benefit. One man bet on a horse race—and handed in $110 from his winnings. The highest amount turned in was $373, from a woman who made more than eighty dolls. In all more than $6000 was raised.
6031 $5 To Each Member
How can you get richer by giving money away? Woodland Hills Community Congregation Church in California found that it could.
The church’s 546 members and friends each received $5.00 from the pastor with the instructions to use the money in whatever way their talents dictated to make money for the church. The goal was to erase a $3,700 budget deficit.
A total of $2,730 was thus given away but after 6 weeks the church was $4,200 richer. This is one “parable” which congregationalists will not soon forget.
6032 $5 To Members
Rev. Ben Hodder of Kew Beach United Church (Toronto) found that the Parable of the Talents works.
He borrowed $3000 from banks and handed out 550 envelopes containing $5 bills to congregation. Members used money to finance projects, concerts, clinics, etc. Sixty days later, envelopes were returned—nearly $12,000.
6033 $10 To Members
Last September 12 David McClure, pastor of the Unity Church, Spokane, WA, told the members of his congregation they could take a $10 bill from the church funds, turn their talents to increasing the sum, and then bring back the results in 50 days.
Church members took about $3,500.
On November 14 a special collection was taken. The total was $10,207.24.
Commented Mr. McClure: “There were a few members who thought we’d be doing well just to get our money back on this thing. It was a step in faith, and it proved one of the principles of faith: the power of putting your faith and trust in people.”
—Prairie Overcomer
6034 Taking From Offering Plates
Pastor Howard Conaster of the 4,000-member Beverly Hills Baptist Church in Dallas recently preached a series of sermons on the types of offerings in Scripture. At one midweek prayer meeting he announced that a freewill offering would be received. Normally, collections are not a part of the church’s prayer meeting. Conaster told his audience of 950 that the church didn’t really need the money. “We are already $100,000 over our budget for this year,” he said. “But you need to be blessed; you need to experience the grace of giving.”
After the offering was received the pastor directed the deacons to return to the congregation with the baskets, which contained more than $1,000. “It’s God’s money,” he explained. “If you need money and have asked God to help you get it, take what you need.” Only a few did but for them the collection in reverse was a godsend, observed reporter Helen Parmley of the Dallas Morning News. One parishioner told of a clean, but poorly-dressed youth who took a couple of bills from the basket as it passed, then lifted his head and said softly, “Praise the Lord.”
—Christianity Today
6035 Long Walk Included
One of my favorite stories is about a missionary teaching in Africa. Before Christmas, he had been telling his native students how Christians, as an expression of their joy, gave each other presents on Christ’s birthday.
On Christmas morning, one of the natives brought the missionary a seashell of lustrous beauty. When asked where he had discovered such an extraordinary shell, the native said he had walked many miles to a certain bay, the only spot where such shells could be found.
“I think it was wonderful of you to travel so far to get this lovely gift for me,” the teacher exclaimed.
His eyes brightening, the native replied, “Long walk, part of gift.”
—Gerald H. Bath
6036 Lord’s Day Eggs
Sra. Juana Venegas is a real “character,” and has frequently appeared in the pages of this “Letter to the Homeland.” The other day she placed 500 pesos in the hands of the church officials to be used for the building fund. She said: “The hens did it! I can’t get this tithing business through my head, but there were my hens laying eggs on the Lord’s Day! Somehow it didn’t seem right to use the eggs laid on His day for ordinary purposes, and so for several months I have been setting those particular eggs apart and have sold them separately, and—well, here’s the money!”
—Soldiers and Gospel Mission
6037 Were The Whole Realm
Dr. John Hall once told of an incident illustrating the shocking divergence between precept and practice in some cases. A devout-appearing worshipper joined heartily in the singing of an old hymn while the offering plates were being passed. The song was:
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small.
While he sang so vigorously the man was fumbling around in his pocket, trying to find the smallest coin there to drop in the offering.
—Westminster Teacher
6038 An Inward Pain
Once there was a Christian
He had a pious look.
His consecration was complete
Except his pocketbook.
He’d put a nickel on the plate
And then, with might and main,
He’d sing: “When we asunder part
It gives us inward pain.”
—Selected
6039 Dogs First, Then Church
Mrs. Jones, 81, died without any survivors—that is, without any human survivors. She left three dogs to mourn her passing: Bozo, Dolly, and Skippy. She specified that her $72,800 should go for “the care and maintenance of the dogs.”
When the dogs are dead, what is left would be given to the Walnut Street Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky.
A veterinarian says the three canines are in “excellent health” and the church may have to wait as long as twelve years to say “dog-gone” and receive the money.
6040 Too Busy To Write Check For God
When I was assistant pastor of the large First Baptist Church in Plainview, Texas, I was made financial secretary of the church. A lawyer for many years had had the financial secretary to write a check for $5 on the first of each month on him. He always honored the check. But after one or two months I was so grieved at his indifference that I could not write the check.
When his checks came at the end of the month and he discovered that he had not given a penny to the Lord’s cause because I had not written the check, he was embarrassed and troubled. “Go ahead and write a check on me every month for $5,” he said. “I want the church to have the money. I do not begrudge it at all. I am just too busy to take time to write a check and mail it in, and I don’t want to have to think about it every month,” said he.
But I answered, “If you are too busy to write a check for God, you are too busy. lf you can’t take time and thought to personally attend to this matter, I do not believe that God wants your money.” I told him that God was not poor, that God did not need his measly $5, but in His gracious providence has allowed us Christians the joy of giving and having a part in His work.
—John R. Rice
6041 Pledge For Other Things
He said he wouldn’t make a pledge
Unto the church at all,
That he would give just when he felt
The urgency—the call.
But still he bought a car and pledged
To pay it off some day.
And then a house in which to live
And each month he would pay.
He pledged to pay his telephone,
Electric and his gas:
He pledged to pay his water bill—
He never let it pass.
He pledged to pay his taxes, too,
Upon his house and sod,
But not one cent he’d ever pledge
To the house of God.
—Selected
6042 Deeply Interested?
Several years ago a small town newspaper reported: “Mrs. Johnson entertained eight intimate friends at a dinner at the Country Club yesterday after which she took the party to the Majestic Theater to see An American Tragedy.” The item went on to note that “Mrs. Johnson always contributes $5 a year to the missionary society of her church. She has been a deeply interested member of the organization for eighteen years.”
6043 “I Own Everything!”
Dr. George W. Truett was entertained on one occasion in the home of a wealthy oilman in Texas. After the dinner the man took him up the roof of his house and indicated huge fields of oil derricks, and said, “Dr. Truett, that’s all mine. I came to this country twenty-five years ago penniless, and now I own everything as far as you can see in that direction.” Then he turned to the opposite direction and indicated waving fields of grain and said again, “It’s all mine. I own everything as far as you can see in that direction.”
Then he turned to the east, and pointed to huge herds of cattle and said again, “It’s all mine, everything as far as you can see in that direction is mine.” One final time he turned toward the west and pointed to a great virgin forest, and said again, “It’s all mine. Twenty-five years ago I was penniless, but I worked hard and saved, and today I own everything as far as you can see in this direction, that direction, that direction and this direction.”
He paused for the expected praise, but to his astonishment it didn’t come. Dr. Truett laid hand lovingly on his shoulder, pointed upward and said, “My friend, how much do you own in that direction?” The man dropped his head in shame and said, “I never thought of that.”
—Western Recorder
6044 Better Than Nothing, Thank You
Columbus, Ohio (UPI)—It wasn’t precisely what the young hitchhiker wanted, but it was better than nothing. The unidentified hitchhiker’s thumb stuck hopefully in the air asking for a ride, was growing red with cold. A sportscar crept past the youth in the slow-moving traffic. As it passed the hitchhiker, the window on the passenger’s side of the car was rolled down and a pair of gloves flew out to that thumber. The youth put the gloves on, waved a thank you to the motorist, and continued his thumbing in the snowy 28 degree (F) weather.
6045 Holiday Inn President’s Asking And Giving
Said Wallace E. Johnson, President of Holiday Inns and one of America’s most successful builders: “I always keep on a card in my billfold the following verses and refer to them frequently: Ask and it shall be given you: seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened (Matt. 7:7–8).
“These verses are among God’s greatest promises. Yet they are a little one-sided. They indicate a philosophy of receiving but not of giving. One day as my wife, Alma, and I were seeking God’s guidance for a personal problem, I came across the following verse which has since been a daily reminder to me of what my responsibility as a business is to God: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Tim. 2:15).
“Since then I have measured my actions against the phrase: A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”
6046 A Raphael Overlooked
One day in 1938 a painting was being auctioned at Sotheby’s in London. It was a filthy, yellowed, unframed, Italian Madonna. As the richest man in the world, John Paul Getty, gazed at it, he muttered to himself, “It looks like a Raphael.” He liked it and bought it for a paltry $112.
Since 1938 Getty has kept the painting uncleaned and in storage until a year ago, when a restorer began to remove the scummy varnish. Every indication now points to the fact that the painting is an authentic Raphael.
6047 Suppliers To Royalty
Hundreds of Britain’s most select shops and firms hold a royal warrant as suppliers to the Royal Family. Such a warrant is valued for the prestige it bestows. A holder can use the Royal Arms and the words, “By appointment to … ” followed by the name of the often long-dead monarch who granted the warrant. Recently about 70 of these shops and firms lost their royal warrant.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman explained the reason in these words: “Many firms have not supplied anything to the Royal Family for several generations.” Among the losers are a hairdresser to King George, glove and umbrella makers, and a bedtime-drink manufacturer.
6048 Violin Never To Be Played
The great violinist Nicolo Paganini willed his marvelous violin to the city of Genoa, on condition that it must never again be played upon. Wood while used and handled wears but slightly. Discarded it begins to decay. The lovely-toned violin has become wormeaten and useless. It is only a reminder that a life withdrawn from service to others becomes quite useless.
6049 Violin’s 65-Year Rest
In one of the rooms of the Tursi Palace, now devoted to municipal uses, is preserved under a seal a precious Guerneri Violin of Paganini. Kocian, the Bohemian violinist, visiting Genoa, asked to be allowed to play on the instrument. The mayor granted the request and invited members of the aristocracy and several musicians. Kocian played one of Bach’s airs and a concerto of Paganini. The audience was greatly impressed. The violin was then replaced in the glass box, where it has rested sixty-five years, and was again sealed in the presence of the spectators.
—J. Wilbur Chapman
6050 Robbing World Of Violin Music
A man named Luigi Tarisio loved violins so much that he began collecting them. He took great pride in acquiring only those of the finest quality. No one really knew about his hobby, however, until after he died, when 246 valuable instruments were discovered in his attic. One of the most expensive was hidden in the drawer of an old dresser. It was a Stradivarius he had purchased from someone who had also bought it as a collector’s item.
W. Y. Fullerton, commenting on this said that in preserving the instrument, Tarisio had robbed the world of beautiful music all the time he treasured those violins. Others before him had done the same, so that when the greatest Stradivarios in his collection was first played, it had been speechless for 147 years.
—Richard W. De Haan
6051 A Wonderful Stipulation
Benno Rabinoff, the concert violinist, recently was invited to dinner at a restaurant by a violin enthusiast. The violin fan arrived carrying a violin case. After dinner he opened it. There was an exquisite instrument of red-brown, still glowing with the varnish applied by the master violin maker, Antonio Stradivari. It was made in 1734. Rabinoff’s companion said he was tendering the violin to the concert artist as a gift. “Why are you giving this to me?” Rabinoff in an interview said he asked the man. “The man said, “I want to hear it sing again. It has been silent too long.””
The donor then made one stipulation—his name never was to be revealed. Rabinoff said the violin was one of the three greatest in the world and that it was worth $100,000.
6052 Epigram On Stewardship
• We cannot serve God and mammon; but we can serve God with mammon.
—Robert E. Speer
• Money is a bad master, but a good servant.
• Use the talents you possess. The woods would be silent if only the birds sang that sing the best.
• Those who inherit wealth are paid in advance for the service they are expected to render to mankind.
See also: Giving ; Time.