| The Way of Victory |
Chapter 1 |
Page 2 |
Those who have these traits must trust in the Lord with all their heart, “and He will direct their paths.” What we all need most is guidance. However self-reliant we may be we are all sure, sooner or later, to come to places in our life in which we feel our utter helplessness. We would have fewer perplexities and problems if our faith were more childlike and implicit. Our mistakes and difficulties arise in great part from following our own way without seeking God’s guidance. The only true and safe rule is to commit everything into God’s hands with all our heart, acknowledging Him to be our guide. If we pour into His ear our perplexities, and then calmly await His direction, we shall not go astray.
But we are to do more; we must “honour the Lord with our substance.” Until we have learned to give to the service of Christ systematically and liberally of all that God has given to us, we have not learned the lesson of true Christian living. It is, too, with the first-fruits that we are to honour God. We are to lay aside specifically for His service first, making provision for our own wants according to what is left. To use all that is necessary to gratify every selfish desire and then give God what may be left is not to honour Him. Of course the consecration of our substance should not stop with the giving of our first-fruits. Far from it. All that we have and are is Christ’s, and should be used for His glory. But a great step toward a true and full consecration will have been taken when the habit of giving first of all, and proportionately and religiously, to the service of Christ and His cause has been firmly established.
Page 2