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The Offering of April 2

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 31, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 13.

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The Offering of April 2

By W. T. Knox

OUR responsibility to the needy is so evidently set forth in the Scriptures that there is left no room for mistake. Without doubt the proper discharge of our duty in this particular is evidence of the possession of a faith that works by love, while its neglect will be considered evidence of our lack of such faith. To the one class our Saviour represents himself as saying in the day of his coming: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” And then to the astonished but happy righteous he will explain that “inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
The needy do appeal to us. Our hearts go out to them, but too often in our many cares and burdens we are prone to overlook and miss the opportunity before us. In every conference there are cases that seem to demand attention from the conference rather than the individual. The donation from all the churches for Sabbath, April 2, is, by appointment of the General Conference, devoted to the local and union conferences in their care, for the aged, the orphans, and needy among them. This should, therefore, be a liberal offering, for in every conference there surely is need; and while doubtless there are many of us who can not do in our own homes all we would for the less favored, yet in this arrangement we may have a part in this work that is evidently so essential for Christian growth and development.
There is no other work we can enter upon that will take its place, no busy activity nor service that will be acceptable to the Lord with this lacking. With a tender and practical sympathy for the needy lacking in our lives, all our service seems to be distasteful to God.
It is to be hoped that all will deal liberally on this occasion, that the conferences and institutions may be able properly to discharge their duty to those who are dependent upon their care. Send all funds to the local conference treasury. W. T. KNOX.