The midland journal., 1946-08-30

neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor
steal: for where your treasure is there will
your heart be also Matt 6:20-21).
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.
God's 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 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. 2O: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 a
right to that which they have made,
earned or saved.
Ii 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
tian.
"Thou shalt not steal," forbids ev-
cry kind Of theft, and this includes
more than robbery or ordinary
stealing (see Lev. 19:11-13).
1t relates to every kind of false
dealing with another, such as op-
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, bor-
rowing money from the cash draw
er, 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
1t, contracting debts which one can
never pay, using false weights and
measures, adulterating food or 9TH
er material, watering" milk for
sale, selling worthless stock, dodg-
ing taxes or lying to the tax as
SCISSOR, or using a slug instead of
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.
II. Humble in Practice prov. 30:
7-9).
1t may sound 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 aff1uence, he for
gets God, and what had been a good
and useful life is soon destroyed.
On the other hand, it is true that
extreme poverty tends to break
down mans morale. Watching his
family stnrve is not conducive to
honesty if man can lay his hands
on something to save them,
whether it be his or not. We do not
justify stealing at any time, but we
can well understand that starvation
can turn the mind of normal man
into abnormal channels.
iii. Heavenly in Principle (Matt.
6:25-28).
The Bible is concerned almost en-
tirely with life on this earth. It tells
us very little about heaven except
how to go there. But (and here is
the important point for us just now)
it 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 no
thought" Wv. Is, 27, 31) about our
life, about food, raiment and other
necessary things. Proper fore
thought is all right, but worry?
| Never!
How shall these things be pro-
vided? God will provide. Consider
the birds. Do they have nervous
breakdowns about where their food
and shelter are to come from? They
cannot even pray and they are not
able to work, and yet God feeds
them.
Consider the glory of the flowers
of the field, for not even a king can
dress as they. The Lord does it.
"Are ye not much better than
they?"
What about the future? It is in
Gods hands, and even if it were
in our hands what could we do with