By Eunice Soper

Mervin was an interested observer that morning as the offering was taken at church. He dropped in the dime from his pocket, and watched as father, behind the pulpit, added his usual fifty-cent piece. You see, at this church the offering constituted the minister's salary, and Mervin had definite plans to ask for a new football if the offering of the week was generous.

As the pastor's old car chugged the miles to their home after the service, Mervin broke the silence between them by asking, "Dad, how much was the offering today?"

The pastor put his hand into his coat pocket and ruefully displayed a dime and a fifty-cent piece -- "just what we put in, son."

There was silence while Merv quickly put away his idea of the football. Then he said, "Dad, you know something? If only we had given more, we'd have gotten back more!"

One day a woman whose income was, I am sure, much higher than ours, asked me, "How do you Adventists dare give so much money to your church? Why, I consider that the Lord gave me that money to use for my family, so that's what I use it for." And she did. I don't suppose she put into the church in a year the amount we as Adventists contribute in a week. But the more I looked at her excuse the weaker it seemed. She had forgotten our promise of today -- if we give, it will be given to us again, in greater volume than we have given. We gave of our little, and with what we had left we were living as comfortably as the other family was, ate better, probably, and had as nice clothing. Her reasoning did not take into consideration the factor of God's generosity. We give to God, and He seems to put more elastic into what is left -- it stretches farther than it would if we did not take Him into consideration.

Do you want a blessing from God? Take Him at His word and give. And then see how much farther the remaining amount stretches. Pay your tithe and give a planned offering. If you are a student in school, earning a bit of money of your own, use that amount as God wants you to use it. And then "prove" the Lord with what is left. Malachi 3:10 says, "Prove me now herewith,...if I will not...pour you out a blessing." And then watch for God to give back to you "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over."

"The Dangerous Root"

Sometimes you will hear people remark that "money is the root of all evil." That is not what the Bible says. There is nothing wrong in money or the wealth that money represents. The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." There is a difference. It is the attitude we take toward money -- be the quantity great or small -- that constitutes wrong.

If money or wealth is the great goal of our lives, then something is wrong somewhere. If we view our friends only in terms of "how much" they have, or "how much" they will spend on us for gifts, then we had better look out. We are on dangerous ground. If we are beginning to feel that only the man with lots of money is the successful one, we are edging close to trouble.

And it is not only the surplus of money that causes trouble. Somehow we feel that the man who has too much money and the man who has too little are the ones who are in danger of being involved in this "root of all evil." There was a man in a certain community who, although he made a comfortable living, had a good home, and adequate provision for the future, yet was so careful of each penny that he made life uncomfortable for his whole family. Every penny had to be scrupulously accounted for. He even sat at the table and calculated aloud the cost of each mouthful of food his children ate, which may not have damaged their appetites, but certainly did not increase their love for father. He had come to the place where his money was ruling his whole life. His "riches" were definitely hurting him.

A certain woman had an interesting outlook on the problem of money. A friend observed her writing some figures in a little black book after she had made some purchases.

"Do you keep a record of everything you spend?" the friend queried.

"No," she replied, "only the luxuries -- perfumes, candy, things like that."

"Why?" asked the persistent friend.

"Well, you see, I feel a bit guilty spending money for such things, when there is so much need in the world. So for every amount I spend on luxuries, I give a like amount to help the sick, poor, or homeless."

While this system may not be one to be always recommended, yet it shows that she was developing a good attitude toward her "riches." She realized that she was the steward of her possessions and that they should be used in a way that would help others as well as herself. She was trying to develop a system that would enable her to avoid the wrong use of riches, and avoid the "hurt" of wealth withheld.