""Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye
       brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of
       hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every
       man unto his own house."" 
              — Haggai 1:9

Churlish souls stint their contributions to the ministry and missionary
operations, and call such saving good economy; little do they dream
that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their excuse is that they
must care for their own families, and they forget that to neglect the
house of God is the sure way to bring ruin upon their own houses. Our
God has a method in providence by which he can succeed our endeavours
beyond our expectation, or can defeat our plans to our confusion and
dismay; by a turn of his hand he can steer our vessel in a profitable
channel, or run it aground in poverty and bankruptcy. It is the
teaching of Scripture that the Lord enriches the liberal and leaves the
miserly to find out that withholding tendeth to poverty. In a very wide
sphere of observation, I have noticed that the most generous Christians
of my acquaintance have been always the most happy, and almost
invariably the most prosperous. I have seen the liberal giver rise to
wealth of which he never dreamed; and I have as often seen the mean,
ungenerous churl descend to poverty by the very parsimony by which he
thought to rise. Men trust good stewards with larger and larger sums,
and so it frequently is with the Lord; he gives by cartloads to those
who give by bushels. Where wealth is not bestowed the Lord makes the
little much by the contentment which the sanctified heart feels in a
portion of which the tithe has been dedicated to the Lord. Selfishness
looks first at home, but godliness seeks first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, yet in the long run selfishness is loss, and
godliness is great gain. It needs faith to act towards our God with an
open hand, but surely he deserves it of us; and all that we can do is a
very poor acknowledgment of our amazing indebtedness to his goodness.

On this day...

• Introduction to Sinner’s Prayer - 2024
• Acts 10 - 2024
• If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him - 2011
• Cursed is the man that hangs on a tree - 2011
• Train Ministers at Church or Send Them to Seminary? - 2010
• Pastors Challenged to Ordain Every Christian Not Do Ministry for Them - 2010
• Theologian Most Christians Infected with Prosperity Gospel - 2010
• Finney Systematic Theology 1878 Part 3 - 2010
• Finney Systematic Theology 1878 Part 2 - 2010
• Luke 18:1 - 2009