Miscellaneous Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 2, 1912

Miscellaneous Notes

By Editor

One of the most depleting, disintegrating, disease-making things which humanity cherishes is selfishness. Withholding from others what we might render to them comes back upon our own hearts to curse. What we give unselfishly for others returns to bless. It is the bread cast upon the waters. What if God were selfish? Elihu tells us what the consequences would be. In his argument to Job he declares, "God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice." And then he asks, "Who gave Him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world?" God is not caring for the earth—He is not looking after the whole world—because it is a duty which some one has laid upon Him, and which He must discharge if He is to receive His wages. It is God's love which leads Him to care for the world. It is His compassion and mercy which lead Him to give life to the sinner, and it is only because of that goodness and unselfishness that men live. For, as Elihu continues, "If He set His heart upon Himself, if He gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Our life depends wholly upon God's unselfishness. May we not take the lesson home to our own heart, and let it mold our own conduct in the year to come?