“HOW TO GIVE FOR MISSIONS.”
By Geo. D. Watson
THERE is no special difference between giving money to support and to carry forward the Gospel work in foreign missions and giving money to any other religious work; but probably very few of those who give money to foreign missions do it in such a way as to accomplish the best, or to get the greatest blessing on their own souls. God is mightily working in these days in heathen lands for the saving of souls, and while it seems more and more difficult to save sinners in the home land who have rejected the Gospel, there seems a great break up among the millions of China and India and other lands, and they are calling for missionaries and Bible teachers in great numbers. It looks as if a great Pentecost is about to fall upon the mission work in heathen lands, and thousands are turning from their idols and asking for baptism, and to be instructed in the faith of Jesus, and there never has been a time when the professed Christians in Europe and America should pour out their money as just now, to push the pure Gospel in distant lands. Give prayerfully. It is not always the amount of money that is given that accomplishes the best results, but it is the money given in the right spirit, and in the right way, that reaches the right spot at the right time, and is so blessed by a special providence as to accomplish God’s will. There is not too much money given to foreign missions, and yet it is a sad fact that thousands of dollars that are given are practically wasted, just as in war, only a small per cent. of the powder and shot that is used in a battle ever accomplishes any execution. So it is in the money that is professedly given for the work of God. In the home land hundreds of thousands of dollars are given to build fine churches in which there never has been and probably never will be a single case of real salvation. Such money was not given in prayer, or at least not in that perfectly humble prayer that God accepts and answers. So remember, the mere act of giving the money by itself is not what tells, but it is the special providence that accompanies the money, and this is secured by earnest, constant prayer on the part of those who give. The salvation of souls is the end to be reached in all missionary work, and that is a supernatural thing which can be accomplished only by the Holy Spirit. The gift of the money is but a means to that end, and hence the necessity of earnest prayer on the part of those who give, that their money may be so ordered by God’s providence as to be the means of saving souls.