Arkansas State press., 1946-08-30

MEMORY SELECTION-Bu lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven.
where neither moth nor rust doth cor.
rupt and where thieves do not break
through nor steal: for where your treas
ure Is, there Will your heart be also
Matt 6,20.2D.
Labor Day tomorrow! And much
in the thinking of all America will
be the right division of the fruits
of investment Of time and money.
Property rights are fundamental.
Gods word teaches us the proper
attitude toward our own rights and
the rights of others: namely, hon
esty. yes, just plain old-fashioned
honesty.
In such a time, the believer in
Christ needs to be doubly vigilant
lest he accommodate his own stand
ards Of honesty to those of the world
1. Honest in Purpose (Exod 20: 15).
We cannot tolerate anything in
word or deed that can be regarded
as stealing what belongs to another.
The very commandment against
stealing implies that men have
right to that which they have made,
earned or saved.
If no one had any property rights
there could be no stealing. Some of
our modern political and social isms
deny such rights, but their reason
ing is clearly not biblical or Chris
tan.
Thou shalt not steal" forbids ev-
cry kind of theft. and this includes
more than robbery or ordinary
stealing (see Lev. 19:11-13.
II relates to every kind of false
dealing with another. such as OPP
preston or the withholding of Just
wages. That, too, is stealing In
Gods sight.
Perhaps we ought to be more
specific and apply the truth to our
own day, Stealing includes such
things as loafing on ones job, Dor
rowing money from the cash draw
err, taking goods from the stock with
which one is working, stealing an
other mans sermon and preaching
1t as ones own, lifting material out
of another mans book without cred
it. contracting debts which one can
never pay, using false weights and
measures, adulterating food or 9th.
er maGElal, watering milk for
sale, selling worthless stock. dodg-
ing taxes or lying to the tax as
SCISSOR, or using slug instead Of
a nickel in the telephone to escape
proper payment.
One might add gambling (Which
is taking another mans property by
skill or by chance), making an un-
duly large profit on the labor of
another, making money out of the
sorrows and failures Of others, etc.
To be honest means to be fair, and
that has broad implications.
IL. Humble In Practice prov. 30:
7-O.
1t may sound a little odd to hear
this man pray that he should be de-
livered from prosperity To ask to
be kept from poverty is certainly
to make wise request, but to be
delivered from riches, why that's
certainly not sensible. SO reasons
the world, but as usual it Is entire.
ly wrong.
Experience has demonstrated
that the man who has an abundance
Of good things usually becomes self.
satisfied, assuming that he deserves
the credit for his aflluence. he for
gets God, and what had been a good
and useful lie is soon destroyed.
On the other hand. il is true that
extreme poverty tends TO break
down a mans morale. Watching his
family starve is not conducive to
honesty If man can lay his hands
on something 10 save them,
whether it be his or not We do not
justify stealing at amy time. but we
can well understand that starvation
can turn the mind II normal man
into abnormal channels
III. Heavenly in Principle Matt.
25-28D.
The Bible Is concerned almost en-.
tirely with life on this earth. II tells
us very little about heaven excep,
how TO go there, But tand here is
the important point for us just now
/, does give us laws from heaven
for life on earth. Our life here, our
attitude toward property, is to be
heavenly in principle.
We are not to be anxious (the
correct translation OF take nc
thought" w. 25, q, 81 about oul
life. about food, raiment and ether
necessary things. Proper fore
thought is all right, but worry
Neverl
How shall these things be pro
vided2 God will provide Consider
the birds. DO they have nervous
breakdowns about where their fooc
and shelter are TO some Iom7 They
cannot even pray and they are moi
able to work, and yet God feed,
them.
Consider the glory Of the flowers
Of the field for not even a king car
dress as they The Lord does it
Are ye not much better thar
they7"
What about the future7 It is Ii
Gods hands, and even II II were
In our hands what could we do will
III Even tomorrow with its needs
its blessings, It's Joys and Its sor