The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 2

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2 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

A Happy New Year!.

God grant you, dear reader, to taste the riches
of God’s love in Christ as you have never experi-
enced them before; may He grant you grace to say
to Him more boldly and confidently than you ever
have dared to do in the past, “Abba, dear Father !”
God grant you grace to see that you are His own and
that He has the first claim upon you; that all you
are and all you have, your powers, your gifts, your
time, all belongs to Him. May your service of Him
bring true satisfaction to your heart; and may you
ever realize that, as you serve your fellow-men for

_ Christ’s sake, you are actually serving your God and
Savior! May you find it a delight in this new year
to help that your prayer may be more and more fully
fulfilled: “Thy kingdom come!” May you come to
the blessed realization that the more you help in
bringing the kingdom of God to others, the more
will the kingdom of God fill your own heart! May
this new year of grace bring you nearer to living so
that all who will may see that you are convinced of
the truth of the words, “To give is to live; to deny
is to die”! F.J.L.

“To Give Is to Live!’’

I-venture to say that many of our readers have
read the classic story of the painter who was asked
to paint the picture of a dying church. To the great
surprise of many, instead of putting on the canvass
the picture of a shabby old ruin, surrounded by a
weed-grown lot and a tumble-down fence, the artist
painted a stately edifice of great beauty. Through
the large open doors could be seen a hand-carved
pulpit of most beautiful design, a rich altar, a hand-
some organ, magnificent stained-glass imported win-
dows, and comfortable-looking pews; in short, an
exterior and interior to satisfy the most critical eye
and most esthetic taste, an edifice that was truly a
poem in stone. Just within the grand entrance, in
the generously proportioned vestibule, or narthex,
was an offering-plate of exquisite design for the
offerings of the worshipers. Beyond the offering-
plate, suspended on the wall, was a square box, plain
and simple, bearing the words, “For Missions.”
Over the slot, through which the contributions for
missions should have gone, —and here the artist
gave expression to his idea of a decaying church, —
he patnied a cobweb! Dear reader, do you think
_ the artist could have painted a more expressive and
_ correct picture of a dying church? A church that

permits the cobwebs to grow over its contribution-
box for missions is dying and, unless the grace of
God intervene, will surely die.

“To Deny Is to Die!”

The history of the Church unmistakably shows
that no religious body can live long when once it
begins to shut itself off from others and lives only
for itself. Stagnant water soon loses its usefulness ;
the heart that no longer sends its life-giving stream
through the body soon ceases to beat; the farmer
who no longer sows will cease to reap. The old
adage is and remains true to the end of days, “To
give is to live; to deny is to die.” When, years ago,
a man said in objection to Foreign Missions that we
had no religion to spare in this country, but needed
more for ourselves, he was correctly answered by
another that just because we have so little religion,
we ought to do more to send the Christian religion
to others; for the more we should send away, the
more we should have. This answer was fully in
accord with the words of Jesus, who told us to bring
the Gospel into all the world; and He plainly de-
clared that, as we measure, it shall be measured to us.

Losing Life is Saving It.

A number of years ago the following testimony
was given as to the great service missions had ren-
dered the churches that carried them on: “One hun-
dred years ago the New England churches were
called to the mighty task of missions; and whatever
that great enterprise may have done for heathen
lands, it has done quite as much for the spiritual
life of the churches at home. Never was the truth
more clearly demonstrated that the losing of life is
the saving of it. The life of the home churches may
be quite accurately tested by the flow of gifts to
other lands.”

And what is true of the churches of New En-
gland is just as true of the churches generally
throughout this country and Europe. Here is the-
testimony of a London editor bearing upon the in-
fluence of mission activity upon English churches:
“The churches of England derive great strength
from their mission-work. ‘It is so entirely disin-
terested and unselfish. To a great number of other--
wise ordinary men and women this taking a part in

the great work of missions is an important avenue’

into the higher and nobler life of unselfish service
to others. They learn to pray and give for no nar-
row personal result, and thus thought of self is
weakened, and the desire is strengthened to be a true-
disciple of Him who gave His life as a sacrifice for-

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