The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-09-21
The Best for God
ITO.
Lesson for September %, 1862


Lesson for September %, 1862
Every priest and every minis
ter you see is what he is be-
cause he chose to be 50. He
follows what Roman Catholics
call Vocation" and Protestants
a Call" - that is, he believed
it was Gods will that he should
be a priest or a minister asSthe
case might be, and so he d his
own free will followed tn e
Spirits guidance.
In the old Hebrew days it was
different. No man had to decide
anything about call to the
ministry. that is to say tn e
priesthood. A man was either
born into a family of priests or
not. If not. there was no way
by which he could become one.
On the other hand, if he was
born the son Of a priest, there
was no getting out Of it unless
he was seriously crippled. The
effect of this, naturally, W a S
that many men were priests
who had no liking for their work
and perhaps very little capacity
for it. They would get through
their work at the temple as
quickly and easily as tn e y
could. They were much more in
terested in the pay than in the
service.
God Wants the Best
This was the situation which
the prophet Malachi faced. Re
ligion was at a low ebb in Je-
rusalem and Whereabouts. People
offered to God the least they
could get by with. With the
priests bad example befor e
them, the everyday worshippers
grew quite Indifferent to the
whole business or religion. God
got the tag-ends. tag-ends of sac
rificeS Qambs that were sick
anyhow, for example,. tag-ends
Of money, and probably small
tag-ends of time. Anything would
do for God, it was thought. Mala-
chi tried to break through this
piggish Indifference. We do not
know how successful he was,
but we do know what he tried
to do. He tried to help Gods
people recover the conviction
that God is real, all good and
almighty. He is every man S
best friend. The Israelites were
not only treating God shabbily
they were actually robbing him.
If a man wants his friend to
have the best, what must we
think = what must God think
of men who not only treat God
and his laws and his service
with contempt, and actually give
God the worst instead Of the
best?
God Gets the Worst
This is not a parable from
olden times. It's something we
can observe in almost any
church. Who gets the best of
the church members money?
Not God, not always. The family
car, the mortgage payments,
clothes and parties to keep up
with the Joneses,' one hundred
and one things get the best Of
the family income, and they Of
fer God, through his church,
part of what's left after they
have provided for everything
else.
God gets the worst of time,
too. Is time set apart for Bible
reading an important part Of
the day? Is the time spent in
Bible reading and prayer com
bined, as much as is spent in
listening to the weather reports
on the radio? Is the time set
apart for personal religion a
time when one is most wide
awake, or most sleepy? AS for
Sundays, the story is the same
The flimsiest excuses serve to
excuse absences from church.
Test of Reality
Here's some one complaining
that religion does not seem real,
God doesn't seem real. No won
der! The test of the reality of
mans faith is not the nice
words he sings about it in
church. The test is in what he
puts into it. This situation OF
boredom and lack Of interest
can't be cured first of all by
putting more time and money
into the church. That come S
later, not first. The best OF
your talents; the best of your
time, the best of your mind and
heart for prayer and opening
your mind to Gods word; il
you are willing to give that
much, you will find your re.
llgion growing real.
There is one more thing thai
must be said, especially to
fathers and mothers, teachers
and friends of young people
The boys and girls you love are
your most precious possession