The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 185

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 185

him that he ought to honor the Lord with his sub-
stance. But another voice in him said, “Billy, you
can’t afford it. You are earning only $16 a month
in the summer and $20 in the winter, and you need
all for yourself.” Billy stood there before the fur-
nace, arguing the matter pro and con. Finally, he
went up-stairs into the cold auditorium of the
church and there prayed about it. Of course, it
was not long till he gave up the argument and de-
cided to become a regular giver to the Lord’s work.
And no sooner did he make this resolve than a bliss-
ful trust that God would supply his needs came into
his heart. Thus God began to bless him even before
he had begun to carry out his resolution.

And then another decision was made by the boy;
he decided not to burn the leaflets which had brought
him nearer to Christ and persuaded him to become
a regular and systematic giver to the Lord’s cause.
Some he handed to young friends with the earnest
request that they read them, some he got into homes
by the help of Sunday-school pupils, and still others
he had a friend distribute among the members of
a sister church.

Having decided to set apart a regular portion of
his income for the Lord’s work, he at once began
to keep account of his income and the portion he
had given to the Lord. He bought a little book,
and in this he entered his income and the sum he
had set aside for the Lord. . This keeping of an
itemized account of his receipts and disbursements
soon led him to the discovery that he was earning
more than he had thought. Ixtra jobs that came
his way and gifts received now and then made his
income larger than he had till that time realized.
Besides, the simple itemizing of these various sources
of income led the boy to see other ways of increasing
his receipts. So the Lord in a very simple and
natural way helped him to increase his income.

The boy learned another thing through his keep-

. ing of books, namely, that he had by no means been

giving as much as he thought he had. He also
learned to give more thoughtfully. The conviction
grew upon him that he was investing the Lord’s
money whenever he gave of the separated portion,
and he became ever more careful to give it where
it did the most good. In this way he became always
better acquainted with the Church’s needs, and as
he thus. grew in knowledge, his interest became
deeper and his prayers more fervent.

As the boy grew to manhood, he found his plea-
sure in giving growing. The conviction that he was
acting as the Lord’s treasurer gave him great joy.
As he gave the portion which he regularly and sys-

‘

tematically separated for the Lord’s work, he felt
that he was only giving the Lord what was no
longer his own. He did not feel that he was giving
of his own possessions every time he gave to the
Church. He had ever more to give, and as his gifts
increased, his prayers that God might bless his gifts
brought increased blessings to his soul.

Of course, it would be wrong to think that all
these joys and blessings, together with the spiritual
growth we have referred to, came at once and with-
out any struggle. It would be foolish to think that
the boy, as he grew older and came ever more in
contact with the world and opportunities to spend
his money, was not tempted to break his self-imposed
obligation to give a portion of his income regularly
and proportionately to the Lord. Of course, he
forgot his promise now and then for a time; but ,
it was never for very long, for he soon realized with
every lapse what he was losing in joy and blessing.
And then, finally, the time came when his regular
and systematic giving became for him a habit and
a privilege.

Some Christians will never be willing to give
a regular, proportionate part of their income to the
Lord. Some Christians refuse to do this because
they hold that that is a return to the old legalistic
law of tithing as it was in the days of the Old Testa-
ment. But I believe that all who will once try this
method of regular and proportionate giving, and do
so cheerfully, will soon find so much more pleasure
in this way of giving than in the old haphazard and
spasmodic method that they will soon increase the
Lord’s proportion of their income.

One final remark: By booking the Lord’s sepa-
rated portion of his income, so that he could plainly
see just how much it amounted to, and then budget-
ing it to his local church, the Synod’s Home and
Foreign Missions, its colleges and seminaries, and
other benevolences, he was able to share more widely ~
and more properly in the Lord’s work than he ever
would have thought it possible to do. And this was
likewise a source of great satisfaction.

Our Early Lutheran Indian Mission
in Michigan.
(Continued.)

Primitive Living.
For any one accustomed to the conveniences and
niceties of civilized life, the change of residence to

‘an Indian village of those days was a tremendous

sacrifice. ‘There lay the wilderness! No roads lead-