GAIN AND GODLINESS ACCORDING TO THE WORD.
By A. O. Russell
"PONDER the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established." Prov. 4: 26. This is a beautiful sentence; there is wisdom unto salvation in it. Many are the tears that never would have flowed, many are the sighs that never would have been heard, and many are the heartaches that never would have been felt, had this text always been heeded. The Lord would have every person diligently consider what is to his eternal interest. Before you engage in that new "enterprise," stop and consider what associations you will have, what influences you will have to meet, and whether you may do any good, or receive or impart any spiritual strength, while in the new sphere of action. Gen. 13: 10 says: "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." Lot saw an abundance of pasturage for his flocks and herds, so he chose the plain of Jordan. From a worldly point of view he made a good choice. But the record says that "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." Now Lot was a worshiper of the true God—the God who made heaven and earth; yet for worldly interests he "dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom." Very likely Lot expected, when he made the choice, that he would accumulate wealth and enjoy the good of a fruitful land; but God wants His people to take a different view of life than that. His instruction is, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." When the Lord warned Lot concerning the destruction of Sodom, He did not tell him to bring all of his goods, his cattle and his flocks, with him up out of the evil city. He simply warned him with reference to his family and his own soul. "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hands of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him; and they brought him forth, and set him without the city." Gen. 19: 15, 16. "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing; but righteousness delivereth from death. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish; but He casteth away the substance of the wicked." Prov. 10: 2, 3. Easton, Minn. A. O. RUSSELL.