Bisbee daily review., 1912-02-20
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH !" ne Mobility of Worthjly Reeslsinl


 
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 I Chronicles II: l9. Shall ! drink The blood oi these men that have put their lives in jeopardy?
 We have heard much about the mo- bility or self secrifice The giving of lie is noble thing when there is love and worthy motive back of it. But the passage from which the text is taken sets forth another side of life, namely the right of receiving life This seems 10 be a r2rer and l.gher form of nobility than the giving of life. The lesson s brought out in the story Of David and some of bis mighty men In a moment of lone hnesS and homesickness David gives expression to a sentimental desire to have drink Of water from the old home well which was at the time in the ranks of his enemies. the Phil isunes. Loyal to their leader three oi his men take their lives in their hands. break through the ranks of the Philistines and bring to David a drink from the well by the gate in Bethle- hem. David realizes the risk they have taken and their gift becomes a sacred thing To drink the water ob- tained al such cost would be to use it unworthy. The life blood of his friends is in the gift. So he offers il as a sacrifice to God. The story sug- sests the sacredneSs or what comes 10 Us as the result of anothers labor and sacrifice and the duty of worthily using such a gift.
 Iv AfyTc OF Ia n. or. We all receive the gifts that come from another's labor. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the mater ial used to erect the houses in which We live; the fuel with which We make ourselves comfortable-in a word our material possessions are gifts from others. The same is true of our political and spiritual inheritance. With all cur labor. with all our boast ed independence. we live and enjoy life because others have put their life blood into the things that have come 70 us Could We be stripped Of every thing but what our own efforts have given US we would be naked and hum gry and poor and characterless.
 The important question. in the light Of these facts, is what are We doing with the gifts, how are We using the things that come to us heavy with the life blood of others We may do as the majority, thoughtlessly take what comes to us without regard to the cost of others. feeling that We have 8 right to do with the gifts as We please merely because we have e1- changed money for the gifts That IS not noble receiving and does not compare well with the action of Dav- i'd We may do as is the practise of some 10 whom wealth and power has been entrusted-compel the poor and weak to give us of their life blood that we may enjoy ourselves that we may waste or abuse what comes to us from another's sacrifice. That is wicked. Such sehishness is worthy of the severest condemnation Or We may follow the example Of David, recogniz- ing the sacredpess Of the gift, seeing Is as a cOnsecrated thing because the blood of our brothers is in it, we may refuse to use it selfishly but seek to devote 1t to the advancement of God cause A deeper appreciation of what our poSse essions have meant to others should lead to less sinful waste in our use of the same and more worthy use Of them in the uplift of our fellows.
 Especially should this truth be ap- piled to our relation to the gifts that have come to Us a result of what Jesus Christ has done. Indifference to his claims is not Q mark of super iority. Enjoyment ot the benefits while scOffing at what has brought blessing to us is proof ot Our unwOrthi- ness and meanness. True nobility ac- cepts the gift as a sacred thing and seeks to show appreciation Of it by worthily using it for the advancement of His cause in the lives of others.