An Aroused Conscience

Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:34.
A decided advancement in spirituality, piety, charity, and activity, has been made … in the —– church. Discourses were preached on the sin of robbing God in tithes and offerings….
Many confessed that they had not paid tithes for years; and we know that God cannot bless those who are robbing Him, and that the church must suffer in consequence of the sin of its individual members….
One brother said that for two years he had not paid his tithes, and he was in despair; but as he confessed his sin, he began to gather hope. “What shall I do?” he asked.
I said, “Give your note to the treasurer of the church; that will be businesslike.”
He thought that was a rather strange request; but he sat down, and began to write, “For value received, I promise to pay—” He looked up, as if to say, Is that the proper form in which to write out a note to the Lord?
“Yes,” he continued, “for value received. Have I not been receiving the blessings of God day after day? Have not the angels guarded me? Has not the Lord blessed me with all spiritual and temporal blessings? For value received, I promise to pay the sum of $571.50 to the church treasurer.” After doing all he could do on his part, he was a happy man. In a few days he took up his note, and paid his tithe into the treasury. He had also made a Christmas donation of $125.
Another brother gave a note for $1,000, expecting to meet it in a few weeks; and another gave a note for $300….
If you have robbed the Lord, make restitution. As far as possible, make the past right, and then ask the Saviour to pardon you. Will you not return to the Lord His own, before this year, with its burden of record, has passed into eternity?
The Faith I Live By p. 161
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Prayer Requests
—-Prayers for Judy today….she’s having surgery on her neck. M
—-Please pray for the children who are coming to Vacation Bible School this week. Rose
—-Please pray for a situation with my husband’s work. B
—-Please pray for me! I will be having a Nuclear Stress Test on Thursday morning and I’m scared! Gail
—-PRAISE GOD for several prayer requests that have been answered in the last few days! Today I will be going with my husband to my dear mothers house which is 350 miles away to try and fix this horrible situation with this dishonest, neglectful, abusive “caregiver.” I really need urgent prayer for this. And prayer for wisdom to do whatever is best to do. I also need prayers for protection for my mom and my uncle and my husband and I. Thank you so much for your prayers about this. Connie
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Dear Friends,
One morning before I retired I awakened at 4:45 to do the devotional before going to work. I got out of bed quietly, so I would not disturb Ron. I reached for my glasses, which I always put on a shelf of our headboard. The shelf was empty. In the dark, I began searching each little shelf and drawer. No glasses. Surely, they fell between the waterbed mattress and the hard, wooden side. I jammed my fingers down as far as I could along the sides of the mattress and searched in the darkness. No glasses. Ron, who is a light sleeper, was awake by this time. We turned on the light but still could find nothing.
We decided that I must have taken my glasses off somewhere else in the house. That would be very strange for me to break my routine, especially since without my glasses the world is pretty blurry. Ron told me that if I didn’t find them to come back in. I searched the rest of the house. No glasses. As soon as my hand turned the doorknob, Ron was up and awake. Again we searched. Nothing. I put on my prescription sunglasses. Maybe I could find the prodigal glasses now. Still nothing. Suddenly, Ron dangled the glasses in front of my nose. Last night, in my sleepiness, I had set my glasses on the bedspread at the foot of our bed. There they had stayed through all of the tossing and turning of the night.
Just as I had unthinkingly put my glasses down and crawled into bed, so we, through carelessness and neglect can lose our close connection with our Dear Saviour. How easy it is to get so busy with the routine of our mundane life, that we neglect to pray, fail to study the Heavenly Roadmap, settle into a routine form of godliness but without the power. (2 Tim 3:5) When we take our eyes off from our Loving Redeemer, we have a similar experience as did Mary and Joseph when they lost the Boy Jesus at Jerusalem. “And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.”
Luke 2:42-45
Because they were so wrapped up in the festivities of the moment, the earthly parents of the Son of God had to do some diligent searching to find Him again. What thoughts of self-reproach must have crossed their mind! With fearful heart, they remembered how Herod had attempted to destroy Him and how they had been directed to flee into Egypt. Was the current ruler successful in snuffing out His life? Would they never see their Son again? How could they have been so careless?”And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” vs. 46
“And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” vs. 47-52 Think of it! When Joseph and Mary found Him, they reproached Him as if it were His fault. How often we do the same. As we become attracted to the things of this world, we take our eyes off from the Saviour. Soon, we find ourselves caught up in our day-to-day activities so busy that we have scarcely a thought Heavenward. Soon, our focus is on in the pleasure of the moment. Somehow in our sin-befogged brain, we think that Christ has forsaken us, when in reality, it is we who have wandered away.
How good and kind God is. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. . . .He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Ps 103:8-14 In His great love for us, He does not leave us to flounder about. Instead, He draws us to Himself with His lovingkindness. (Jer 31:3) His Great Heart of Love yearns for us to return unto Him. With tears in His voice He pleads, “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” Jer 3:22 “If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Eze 18:21-23; 33:11
Let us “study to show [ourselves] approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15 Let us seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while he is near, forsake the ways of the world, and the thoughts that take our mind off from our Glorious Saviour. Let us return unto the LORD, for He will have mercy upon us and abundantly pardon us for losing sight of Him. He will bring us back to Himself, though we may have to search diligently our thoughts, words, motives and actions as Ron and I searched for my glasses. He uses that very searching to help us to be in earnest, to help us to realize our great need. Praise ye the Lord!
Rose