Giving, not Purchasing

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 4, 1908

Giving, not Purchasing

A CORRESPONDENT of the Christian Herald made an inquiry concerning tithing:—

Do you believe a person who gives a tenth of his income to the Lord will be blessed temporally as well as spiritually?

A good principle was enunciated by the editor in his reply:—

We think so, provided the giver does not regard the gift as constituting an obligation which God is bound to fulfil. You can not purchase God’s blessing by the payment of money. Jacob supposed he could (Gen. 28: 20-22), but he had to learn by painful experience that it was by changed character, and not by gifts, that God’s favor was gained. Micah directly negatives the idea that God can be bribed. Micah 6: 7, 8. David expresses the same conviction. Ps. 51: 16, 17. Christ himself repudiates the idea in his parable of the laborers (Matt.

20: 10-16), showing that people who try to make a bargain with God must not expect special favors, while they who unselfishly do good spontaneously, expecting no reward, are abundantly blessed. The same idea is reiterated in the parable of the judgment (Matt. 25: 44), in which the givers had actually forgotten that they had given. Paul is in agreement. See 1 Cor. 13: 3. Give by all means; give a tenth and more; it is a duty and a privilege; but do not give as an investment.

So prone are we to feel that we can make some kind of return for salvation, or strike some kind of bargain for the purchase of a home in the New Jerusalem, that we need frequent reminders of the utter futility of all such efforts. All things that pertain to life and godliness are a gift,—an absolutely free gift,—but those who receive the gift of the heavenly life can retain it in no other way than by leading the heavenly life—living for God.