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October 30

What kindness is not

Ephesians 4:17-32

"Be kind and compassionate to one another ..." (v.32)

    We saw yesterday how a group of young people had a wrong concept of kindness, viewing it as just maudlin sentimentality. It is surprising how debased the word "kindness" has become, in both Christian and non-Christian thought.

    Some Christians accept the word because it is used in Scripture, but have no real desire to acquire the virtue because, to them, it smacks of sentimentality and weakness. The world uses the word but, separated as it is from any thought of God, "kindness" comes out as a mild compensation for a lack of firmness and clear thinking. People say, rather patronizingly in some cases: "Oh, he's a kind fellow" -- and they leave it there. The word has come to wear thin in the currency of the world (and in some parts of the Church), so there is a great need to see it minted afresh and gleaming bright in the commerce of modern-day Christian life.

    Think with me still further about what kindness, the fruit of the Spirit, is not. Kindness is not being a "do-gooder." In fact, the word in the original Greek does not imply active goodness but a disposition of goodwill, although active goodness may be one expression of it. Many think of kindness as giving money to people who have a financial need, but just giving money to people who appear to need it, without being guided by the Spirit, can result in great harm. Giving to people at the wrong time can take away from them something more precious than is being given. There are few things in which we have more need of the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit than in our giving.

Prayer:

    O Father, help me to discern between what is true and what is counterfeit. I want my kindness to be genuine kindness -- the sort of kindness that helps people, not hurts them. Amen.

    For Further Study
    2 Pet. 1:1-7; 1 Thess. 3:12; 1 Pet. 1:22
    1. What are we to add to godliness?
    2. In what ways are you currently showing kindness to others?

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October 31

A debased word

Romans 2:1-11

"... not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" (v.4)

    We continue looking at counterfeit forms of kindness. Kindness is not indulgence. Supernatural kindness can be severe -- severe because it loves so deeply that it can come up with a hard refusal. It is based on God's kindness, which can cut when, just like a surgeon, He insists on cutting out of us moral tumors that threaten our spiritual health. But always God's severity is our security. It is redemptive; He loves us too much to let us go. Kindness, which is the fruit of the Spirit, is like that.

    Again, kindness is not a substitute for clear thinking. In being "kind" to one person, people can often be unkind to another. The wrong kindness -- that is, kindness which does not operate on clear guidelines and right thinking -- can deride justice. For example, a businessman remarked to his wife that he was dismissing the chauffeur on the grounds that he was an unsafe driver. "He nearly killed me today," he said. "That is the third time." His "kind" wife answered: "Oh, don't dismiss him, dear -- give him one more chance."Another example of misguided kindness comes out of the law courts. A woman on trial for murdering her husband was acquitted chiefly because of the efforts of one "kind" lady on the jury. Explaining her attitude to someone after the trial, she said: "I felt so sorry for her. After all, she had become a widow." By such examples as these, "kindness" has become a debased word -- a fact that can hardly be denied. People have found it easier to be "kind" than truthful. How desperately the word cries out to be redeemed.

Prayer:

    O God, take my hand and lead me through the fog and confusion that surrounds this word. Help me understand that true kindness can be a cutting kindness -- kindness that gives life and not lenience. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Isa. 63:1-9; Psa. 17:7; 26:3; 63:3
    1. What was the psalmist's testimony?
    2. Out of what does God's loving kindness flow?

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November 1

The kindly rain

Matthew 5:38-48

"... your Father in heaven ... sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (v.45)

    The word "kindness" in Scripture is used more of God than of anyone else. William Barclay says: "It is something of a joyous revelation to discover that when the King James Version calls God good, again and again the meaning is not just moral goodness but kindness." The goodness of God is not something we need shrink away from in fear, but something that draws us to Him with cords of love. This does not mean, of course, that God is indifferent concerning our sins and moral violations; it means that He is so warmly disposed toward us that He has provided through the Cross a way whereby our sin can be forgiven and forgotten. In the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, the expression "loving kindness" is often used. A little boy explained the difference between kindness and loving kindness like this: "Kindness is when your mother gives you a piece of bread and butter; loving kindness is when she puts jam on it as well."In the New Testament, however, a content has gone into kindness which has made the adding of the word "loving" unnecessary. The Moffatt translation brings out this thought most beautifully when it says: "Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). Not merely the same actions, but the same spirit in the actions as was in Jesus. This shows kindness to be more than just actions -- but attitudes. I can think of no better definition for kindness than this -- kindness is treating others the way God has treated us.

Prayer:

    Father, just as you let Your kindly rain fall on the evil and the good, help me to rain kindliness on everyone I meet today -- regardless of who or what they are. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Rom. 2:1-4; Psa. 25:6; 33:5
    1. What are we not to despise?
    2. What leads us to repentance?

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November 2

What this sad world needs

Proverbs 19:20-29

"What is desired in a man is kindness ..." (v.22, NKJV)

    Now that we have put into the word "kindness" the content of Jesus -- "treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus" -- we must now consider how to develop and grow in kindness. Ella Wheeler Wilcox has said:So many gods, so many creeds So many paths that wind and wind When all that this sad world needs Is just the art of being kind.

    Human kindness may be important, but supernatural kindness is even more important. It is what "this sad world needs." The importance of kindness is seen by the fact that an act of kindness lingers on in the memory. Once, when about to step on to the platform of the Colston Hall, Bristol, to speak to a large audience and feeling a little weighed down by personal circumstances at the time, a few ladies who represented an organization called "Women Aglow" handed me a little box in which was a beautiful flower. Along with it was a message: "We love you and are praying for you." That kindness and the spirit that prompted it stood out like a star on a dark night. I have never forgotten it and will never forget it. It will live on within me until the day I die. If kindness can minister such comfort and encouragement, then how imperative it is that we ask God to ripen this fruit within us. Of the many things surrounding Paul's shipwreck on Malta, Luke recalls in particular that the "islanders showed us unusual kindness" (Acts 28:2).

Prayer:

    O Father, help me to demonstrate the fruit of kindness this day so that somebody, somewhere, may use it as a light to lighten their darkness. In Christ's Name I ask. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Luke 10:30-37; Matt. 23:37; Mark 1:41
    1. List at least five kindnesses in this parable.
    2. What moved the Samaritan to act in this way?

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November 3

The great peril of the saints

Matthew 25:31-46

"... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (v.40)

    How does kindness grow in us? It depends on how deeply we live in God. Some Christians set out to be kind but kindness which is the fruit of the Spirit is not the result of self-effort but comes from abiding in Christ. The Christian abides in Christ and the fruit grows and ripens of its own accord.

    The kindest Christians are those who have no ambition to be kind and hold no such thought. This is not to say that they do not desire to be kind, but they do not try to manufacture their kindness. Consumed with a longing to be more like Jesus every day, their thought is not on their personal sanctity but on how they can reflect their Lord. They come across as people who were so self-forgetful that it could be said of them what was said of Samuel Barnett of Toynbee Hall: "He forgot himself even to the extent of forgetting that he had forgotten."The great peril of the Christian life is that we may become selfish in our consuming longing to be unselfish. Only as our roots go down daily into God through prayer and meditation in His Word can we be kept secure from the temptation to focus on growth for its own sake -- rather than for His sake. The person whose kindness is an appetite for praise gives up when the praise does not come. And they give up more quickly still if people say: "What are you getting out of this yourself?" The Christian whose kindness flows out of his relationship with God never gives up. He just can't help being kind.

Prayer:

    O Father, help me to spend time with You so that in the legislature of my heart, You may write the law of kindness. Help me to come under its sway forever. Amen.

    For Further Study
    2 Cor. 9:1-6; Deut. 15:7-8; Psa. 41:1; Acts 20:35
    1. How are we to sow?
    2. Of what did Paul remind the Ephesian elders?

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November 4

The essential flavoring

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

"In purity, understanding, patience and kindness ..." (v.6)

    Nothing else we do can atone for a lack of kindness. Many people excuse themselves for a lack of kindness by pointing to the things they do for someone -- "I am working my fingers to the bone for him." Yes, but the fleshless fingers will not atone for unkind words and attitudes.

    Even ministers who work hard but lack this essential kindness are no exception. Paul lists well over twenty-five things in the passage before us that are marks of a true servant of God, and notice how he puts "kindness" right in the middle of them. At the center of all his "proofs" is kindness. I do not think it is by chance that this virtue of kindness is also the middle virtue of the nine fruits of the Spirit. Without kindness, there is no virtue in the other virtues. This one puts flavor in all the rest -- without it, they are insipid and tasteless. So to grow in kindness is to grow in virtues that are flavored with a certain spirit -- the spirit of Jesus.

    It remains a fact, however, that multitudes of Christian people are not kind. Some eminent Christian leaders have not been as eminent in this fruit of the Spirit as in others, and have worn their halo a little askew. Many are stern and unfeeling. They grow hard with sinners. Disciplined as they are in virtue, they become censorious and critical and their passion for righteousness makes it hard for them to show tenderness to violators of God's law. Jesus upheld God's laws more than anyone -- yet He was called "the Friend of sinners."

Prayer:

    My Father and my God, although I never want to lessen the gravity of sin, I do want to be a person who shows tenderness to those who are enmeshed in it. Help me become that kind of person. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Luke 6:27-38; Prov. 11:25, 22:9
    1. With what attitude are we to bestow kindness?
    2. How does God respond to the unthankful and evil?

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November 5

Deep down goodness

Acts 10:34-48

"... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and ... he went around doing good ..." (v.38 )

    We come now to the sixth fruit of the Spirit -- goodness.

    Most commentators agree that it is the hardest fruit to define as the word "good" is used so widely that it can mean nearly everything and nearly nothing. In some circles, for example, a man is regarded as "good" if he simply keeps out of the hands of the police, while in other circles "goodness" consists of being "highly respectable."The New Testament use of this word (Greek: agathosune) is meager -- apart from its use in Galatians 5:22, it appears on only three other occasions (2 Thess. 2:17, Eph. 5:9 and Rom. 15:14). So it is not easy to pinpoint the real meaning of the word. It is the view of most writers and Bible commentators that supernatural goodness is not just doing good things (though it includes that) but it is essential goodness -- goodness in the inner parts.

    This deep down goodness, like kindness, is first an attitude before it becomes an action. In fact, some commentators are of the view that it is more non-verbal than verbal -- it is evidenced not so much in words as in one's whole demeanor. And it is a goodness which unconsciously proclaims itself. One feels it as an aura around its possessor. Its radiations are so powerful that it is doubtful whether anyone could be near to it and yet be unaware of it. Many, especially non-Christians, might not be able to describe what they feel in the presence of this "goodness," but they would feel something. And that something is the character of Christ flowing in and through one of His followers.

Prayer:

    O Father, how I long to be the channel and not the stopping place of all Your blessings to me. Let this grace, as well as the others, be seen in me. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Eph. 5:1-10; Nah. 1:7; Psa. 119:68; 145:9
    1. What was the psalmist's testimony?
    2. What is the result of walking as children of the light?

[nChrist]

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November 6

"Secret death"

Romans 6:1-14

"Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." (v.7)

    We are seeing that "goodness" is essential goodness -- goodness in the inner parts. William Sangster, in my view, comes closest to grasping the content of this sixth fruit of the Spirit when he says: "Goodness is the impression a Christian makes as he moves on his way, blissfully unaware that he is reminding people of Jesus Christ." Perhaps we can get no nearer to a definition of supernatural goodness than that -- reminding people of Jesus Christ. But note the words -- "blissfully unaware ..." A Christian is largely unconscious of this fruit at work within him, for it is not something he tries to manufacture but something that flows out of his deep relationship with Jesus Christ.

    George Muller of Bristol, the man who cared for so many stranded orphans, was said to demonstrate the fruit of "goodness" to a remarkable degree. Dr. A.

    T. Pierson says in his biography of the great man that one day, Muller was pressed to share what he considered to be the power behind his ministry, and he surprised his questioner by talking about his secret death. "There was a day," he said, "when I died; utterly died" -- and as he spoke, he bent lower until he almost touched the floor. He continued: "I died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved of God." In those who manifest the fruit of goodness, one thing is always clear -- they have "died" to their own interests and have returned to "live" for Christ's.

Prayer:

    Gracious and loving Father, help me also to "die" to my own interests so that I might return and live for Your interests. Whatever I need to bring me to this place, lead me toward it -- today. In Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Gal. 2:1-20; 2 Tim. 2:11; Col. 2:20, 3:3
    1. What was Paul's testimony?
    2. Why did he have to admonish the Colossians?

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November 7

Two divergent views

Galatians 2:11-21

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me ..." (v.20)

    Paul tells us about his "secret" death in the passage before us today. In the main, there are two divergent views on this passage. One view is that Paul is referring here to the teaching he expounded in Romans 6 -- that when Christ died at Calvary, we all "died" in Him, but because He came back from the dead we must now apply ourselves to appropriating that resurrection power and allow it to work in us to overcome self and sin. They say Paul's statement about being "crucified with Christ" has reference to that. Others take the view that Paul is referring to a specific experience in his life, following his conversion, when his "old man" (the carnal nature) "died" to self-interest and self-concern. Thus, the "old man" being crucified, the Christ-man rises in his stead.

    Personally I see truth in both these views. Sanctification is a process but it can also be a crisis. Many Christians can testify, as did George Muller, that even though they were applying the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in their lives day by day, there came a moment or a period when they experienced a critical putting to death of the ego. Not everyone, it seems, is brought by the Spirit to experience sanctification as a crisis, but it is significant that most of the saints whose lives are marked by a high degree of holiness testify to such an experience. Let your heart be open to God on this matter today and listen to what He might say to you. Perhaps this could be the day on which you die a "secret death."

Prayer:

    My Father and my God, I choose what You choose. If today You choose to lead me into a deeper understanding of how to "die" to my self-interest, then I choose to follow. Guide me, my Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Rom. 6; Gal. 5:24; 1 Pet. 2:24
    1. What are we dead to?
    2. How is this worked

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November 8

Pharisaism in overalls

Luke 18:9-14

"... I thank you that I am not like other men ..." (v.11)

    The fruit of the Spirit is not something that is achieved or manufactured, but something that is experienced as we abide in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to produce in us the lineaments of Christ's character.

    Many people have equated the sanctified life with keeping an ethical code, but the ethical code is not the source of sanctification but the result of it. If the path of ethical achievement is achieved by self-effort alone, then the person who achieves it comes to have pride in his achievement and falls prey to the sin of Pharisaism. Those who keep the ethical code by self-effort have a taut will and, though they might not realize it, they lapse into the sin of independence -- depending on themselves and not on God. People who struggle to exude goodness have a metallic ring about them -- they appear stern and rigid and have about them the atmosphere of a moral athlete. Those whose goodness is not imposed, but exposed from their deep relationship with the Lord, are sweetly human and exude the character of Christ.

    A similar error is made by those who say they have been "doing good turns all their lives." Someone has said that this type of attitude is "the sin of Pharisaism in overalls." Self is very much at the center. It is tainted, not because the "good turns" are evil, but because they are prompted by the self-regarding principle -- I am doing them in my own way for my ends. How deeply this disease of self-interest takes hold on us! It is in you and it is in me. Recognizing it, however, is the first step toward curing it.

Prayer:

    O Father, I see that when I strut through life in an attitude of arrogance and pride, I soon stumble. But when I surrender, I succeed. Help me to keep this perspective -- today and every day. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Col. 1:1-27; Eph. 3:16-19; John 17:23
    1. What is "the hope of glory"?
    2. What was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians?

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November 9

The disease of self-interest

Romans 13:8-14

"... love is the fulfilment of the law." (v.10)

    Because the disease of self-interest is so difficult to recognize, it might be helpful to focus on examples of ordinary things done or said by decent people which are, nevertheless, indicative of the ease with which we slip into self-interest.

    A man whose mother died just as he was due to go on holiday and was therefore obliged to stay at home until the funeral was over said to the minister who tried to comfort him: "I will miss my mother greatly ... but I've lost nearly half my holiday." In the weeks prior to my wife's death, a man came up to me and said: "How is your wife?" Before I had time to reply, he launched into a fifteen-minute explanation of how his wife had been up all night with toothache.

    During the terrifying days of World War II, a retired schoolmistress living in a rural area sent a letter to someone in London saying: "If only you knew what we are going through here. Every night we hear enemy planes going over loaded with bombs. Last week one of them dropped its bombs at random and our pantry window was cracked." The person she was writing to had not known what it was to sleep in her own bed for three months -- having had to spend every night in an air raid shelter.

    These illustrations are representative of the kind of thing we hear or might say ourselves almost every day. And if we did not say it, then we might think it -- and that is just as bad.

Prayer:

    O God, deliver me, I pray, from this tendency that I have to become deeply engrossed with myself. Help me to grow in You, so that my first thought is not for myself but for others. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Num. 11:1-5; Isa. 5:8; Matt. 27:3
    1. Why did the children of Israel complain?
    2. What motivated Judas?

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November 10

"Her first thought"
1 Peter 3:18-4:8
"... because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin." (4:1)

    So often in life, our first thought is for ourselves. We are self-centered. Everything has an immediate self-reference. We are more upset over our own dead dog than a neighbor's dead child. And so deeply ingrained is our self-preoccupation that, left to ourselves, we would have to fillet our personalities to get rid of it. Yet there are multitudes walking the earth whose first thoughts are not for themselves but for the Lord and for others.

    How has this happened? It has happened because the fruit of the Spirit was growing within them -- and especially the fruit of goodness. Take Catherine Booth, for example. When the great woman first learned the deadly nature of the disease that was to kill her slowly through two years of great pain, she knelt at the side of her husband and said: "Do you know what was my first thought? That I should not be there to nurse you at your last hour." Her first thought! A minister I once visited and who had been struck down with polio said to me: "But who will care for my people?" It was not of himself he was thinking -- but of others.

    The self-forgetfulness of both Catherine Booth and the minister who was laid aside by sickness was not something that was manufactured but something that had been produced in them by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Their translucence can only be explained in one way -- they had died to themselves. The center of their lives had shifted from self to Christ and thus the fruit of goodness had blossomed within them.

Prayer:

    O Father, dwell so deeply in me by Your Holy Spirit that I will be lifted out of myself into Yourself. I would die unto You and thus live -- now and forever. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Matt. 25:31-46; Prov. 19:17; Ezek. 34:4
    1. How can we minister to Christ?
    2. Why will some be sent to eternal punishment?

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November 11

Surrendering to goodness
John 15:1-11
"If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit ..." (v.5)

    Although, as we have seen, goodness is a fruit that is difficult to define, we come close to seeing its meaning when we think of it in terms of essential goodness -- goodness in the inner parts. It is not something that is imposed but something that is exposed; it moves, not from without to within but from within to without. It is not self-achieved. Supernatural goodness is pure goodness -- a goodness which unconsciously proclaims itself. Christians in whom goodness is growing will not "use" others as many use their friends -- they will love them for themselves alone. They will not mentally fit people into their scheme -- for they have no schemes.

    I think it would be true to say that goodness is there to some degree in all Christians who are in daily touch with the Lord and are growing in Him -- but in those who have known what it is to die to self, it is there in overflowing measure. They exude goodness. John Wallace, a Scotsman and the principal of the college where I received my training for the ministry, used to say: "Goodness, the fruit of the Spirit, is more 'felt' than 'telt'. It is not so much actions as attitudes, not so much talking as walking."I believe myself that God never gets closer to a sinner -- or, for that matter, an unsurrendered Christian -- than when He calls to that person through the life of someone in whom the fruit of goodness is ripe. So in yearning for this fruit of the Spirit, remember, it comes not by straining to be good but by surrendering to goodness.

Prayer:

    O God, I see that goodness is not some extraneous thing introduced from without; it is something that rises from within. Teach me how to stop struggling and start surrendering. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Matt. 5:1-16; 1 Pet. 2:12; Col. 1:10
    1. What will cause the unbeliever to glorify God?
    2. What was Paul's prayer for the Colossians?

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November 12

The ultimate test of character
Psalm 51:1-19
"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ..." (v.6)

    We examine now the seventh fruit of the Spirit -- faithfulness or fidelity. Faithfulness (Greek: pistis) is the quality of reliability or trust-worthiness which makes a person someone on whom we can utterly rely and whose word we can utterly accept.

    It has been said that the ultimate test of a person's character is: Are there any circumstances in which that person will lie? If so, then that person's character is blemished. I know a Christian worker who puts in hours of service and who would work his fingers to the bone for anyone in need but, sadly, he cannot always speak the truth. That basic falsity cancels out much of the value of his accomplishments.

    In a Third World country, where the leaders of churches are obliged to declare their property on their tax returns, one church owned a valuable gold cross. So that they would not have to pay so much tax, they decided to devalue the cross on their tax return and place its value at only a fraction of its real worth. One day the cross was stolen and cut up into small pieces. When the pieces were eventually recovered by the police, the church leaders went to court to prove they belonged to them. The judge called for a valuation of the gold and when told it was of very high value, he judged that the cross did not belong to the church as the stolen cross was of much higher value than the one listed on the church's tax return. So the gold was confiscated by the police. Those church leaders lost not only a cross -- they lost their character.

Prayer:

    Father, impress upon me that not only do You desire truth in my inner parts but You have designed my being to function on truth. Unless I live in the truth and by the truth, I violate the structure of my being. Help me, dear Lord. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Eph. 4:1-25; Prov. 12:19; Lev. 19:11; Col. 3:9
    1. What are we to put away?
    2. What will be established forever?

[nChrist]

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November 13

Riches with a capital "R"
Luke 16:1-13
"... if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" (v.11)

    We must not think that because faithfulness is listed among the last three qualities on Paul's list, it is of lesser importance. So important is it that Jesus says in our passage today: "He who is faithful with a trifle is also faithful with a large trust, and he who is dishonest with a trifle is also dishonest with a large trust" (v.10, Moffatt).

    I have often said to myself: there is a young man with a great future in the things of God. Yet time and again, I have seen them fail in their fidelity to small obligations, and I have then said to myself: unless there are great changes, that person will end up like the children of Israel in the wilderness -- going around in circles. Look again at what Jesus said, this time in the Moffatt translation: "If you are not faithful with dishonest mammon, how can you ever be trusted with true Riches?" Here the basic principles are laid down. If you are not faithful in the trifling, you will not be faithful in the tremendous. If you are not faithful with the material (mammon), how can you expect to be entrusted with the spiritual -- Otrue RichesO?Notice how Moffatt spells the word "riches" with a capital "R." Why is this? Because spiritual richness is a richness that is so rich you just have to spell it with a capital "R." But Jesus says one more thing: "If you are not faithful with what belongs to another, how can you ever be given what is your own?" Those who are not faithful with other people's possessions finish up with nothing of their own.

Prayer:

    Father, I am conscious that day by day You let me be tested with the little. Help me to be faithful there so that I can be trusted to handle a lot. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

    For Further Study
    Matt. 25:14-30; 21:43; Song of Songs 1:6
    1. What did the master say to the first two servants?
    2. What was the confession of the writer of the Song of Songs?