Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-17
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! REV. SAMUEL w. GRAFFLIN.
Men Brings a Feeling of Obliga-
ton"
Amos. 6:1e; Matthew, 15:29-31.

Amos, 6:16; Matthew, 1b:Z931.
| HNp1Nf HATEvER else men need to
J UllDE} learn in connection with saliva
ton through faith in Jesus
Christ. this one lesson is imperative.
We are saved to serve" In that great
| Judgment scene, depicted by the Master,
in the twenty-fifth of Matthew, the re-
| wards and punishments are on the basis
| OF service or neglect of service. The
Gospel teens with parable and incident
which show how great was the emphasis
which the Master laid upon service as
the test of love and neighboriiness.
| When the keen legalist demanded to
| know Who is my neighbor?' the
| answer given by the Master is the final
word concerning unselfish service. Two
| scriptures are given us, the first full
| length portrait of the idle rich of nearly
thirty centuries ago SO true to human
nature that it will serve today to describe
those pampered children of fortune who.
because they know not. care not that at
their very doors the cry of hunger rises
to where the Giver of all good must hear
and see with grief the loss sustained by
each.
| Could the rich know the joy of real
sharing. could the poor feel the friendship
| VI tnOSc "HO nave ITO mere IidlcIldl
wants, each would be better, each be
/ blessed. The second scripture, in three
brief verses, tells the story Of tender
ministration on the part of the Master
to the impotent folk of Galilee. He saw.
He felt and He would have been less
than human, much less divine, had He
not relieved.
From these two scriptures and the topic
we draw three thoughts:
I. The Danger in Mere Temporal Pros
| nnritv-Hnw fiUnra
| resources in dollars and cents. when in
reality they and they alone are unstable
| and subject to destruction. On the other
hand we overlook the fact that the abid-
| ing values are knowledge and character,
possessions which comfort their owner
and which fortunes within must leave I'M
| touched. Never are men more in danger
Of the dependence upon goods. which goes
than when Everything seems to be COM
! ing their way" The direst words that
ever dropped from siren lips to lure to
ruin swift and sure the goodly men OF
every nation: age and CLINE, are; Ease
and Safety and Abundant time How
poor, indeed, are they whose only treas
| ure is in banks, whose only gifts are
those which they receive, whose time and
treasure are consumed upon themselves,
breeding in human hearts those tenden-
cies which steep the soul in spiritual tor
por so complete that sorrows cry and
| heavens warnings fall on ears too dull
| to hear and hearts too gross to heed.
| II. The Haunting Cry of the Sick and
| ity to God, the tombstone Of all human
| greatness, Is the attitude assumed with
reference to those less favored folk who
| seem to scar and wound themselves with
every tool they touch or task which they
attempt. Their blowing does not stimu-
late the soil: their seed lies dormant in
the fertile earth; their children fall the
prey to each disaster or disease, and they
lose heart and drop their poor dull tools,
sinking beneath their burden of despair,
never to rise, except as some strong,
kindly hand shall lift them up and point
days.
He stopped to hear and heed and help.
The Son of God had time. And shall not
we who bear His name and sign" who
claim to have no other hope of present
blessing or of future bliss except through
Him, refuse to hear this haunting cry
that tells Of sickness. sorrow and despair
among the other children of our God?
III. The Joy Of a Great Response.-Of
all the great investments which men
make, from which they hope to gain that
which shall bring them ease in later
years, no outlay can compare in large re-
turn with time and treasure used to make
men glad by easing hunger or assuaging
grief. No turn OF market can absorb
that wealth. no fire or flood wipe it from
Gods great book; but when the soul.
stated with earth, sits down to count the
things that count nothing will seem more
certainly worth while than kindness fair
ness and forgiveness shown to those who
could not claim it as their own. We dare
not say, 1--WE did not know" We should
know, even If we have to ASK and, like
the patriarch Job, seek OUT the needy
neighbor. There is that in our hearts
left Of the Makers image which If we
give 1t leave and do not starve it will SO
lead us out and on in service born Of love
and sacrifice that We shall know the joy
unspeakable Of serving by one action
God and men.