Free Gifts for the Tabernacle
William E. Griffis. Exodus 35:29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering to the LORD, every man and woman… I. ART SHOULD BE CONSECRATED TO THE SERVICE AND WORSHIP OF GOD. Emptiness and gloom do not honour Him whose are the silver and the gold, and whose handiwork is manifest in star and crystal, flower and feather. We cannot go far wrong when the Word of God encourages us in chaste use of symbols, making art the handmaid of religion, and every avenue to the soul a highway to God. II. THE ARTIZAN'S CALLING IS HONOURED OF GOD AND HIS LAWGIVER. He who is diligent in business and fervent in spirit serves the Lord, and even in our manual occupations we may be fellow-workers with God. He who works rightly is so far God-like. III. GIVING, WHEN RIGHTLY DONE, IS AN ACT OF WORSHIP. To hear the Word without an offering is to be a hearer of it and not a doer. Stinginess in a Christian contradicts the cross and its lesson. We are to give promptly and regularly. Zeal cools by delay. Ideas shrink and vision shortens when the heart is not roused. Like the willing people before Moses, let us give now and see the good of our gifts while we live. Better be our own executors, writing our wills on living human hearts rather than on the skins of dead sheep or lawyers' foolscap. IV. IMPULSIVE GENEROSITY IS NOT TO BE CONTEMNED. Sentiment is more powerful than logic, and every minister of Christ and leader of men should imitate Moses, who proved himself, under God, a heart-rousing, pocket-compelling preacher. To thrill the money-nerve unto good ends is a noble achievement. Then the maid forgets her ornaments. The lady's jewels are cast into the molten mass that is to make a church bell, supply the needs of the battle-field, the hospital, or the famine-stricken land. V. THE PATH OF SACRIFICE LEADS US TO CHRIST AND HIS CROSS. The heart that prompts the offer of the cup of cold water, when cultivated by Divine grace to highest possibilities, rests only under the cross of Calvary. (William E. Griffis.) Parallel Verses KJV: The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. WEB: The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to Yahweh; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which Yahweh had commanded to be made by Moses.