GOD LOVED ME TOO WELL

My Experience in Real, (Unreal) Estate -- Quick and Big Money a Hurt, Rather Than a Help

Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal. -- Prov. 30:8, 9.

     We fear it is a hindrance rather than a help for a minister of the gospel to handle or own much money. As a rule, riches and the power of the Holy Ghost do not go hand in hand. Peter said to the lame man, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." I would rather have power to say, "Rise up and walk," than be able to say, "Here is a check for one thousand dollars."

     When we first went to Florida I determined that the commercial spirit should not get hold of me. I noticed with grief how many ministers had been sidetracked by this snare.

     Many a preacher goes to a warmer climate for his health. He has "sore-throat," "indigestion," or a "nervous breakdown." He does not want to be entirely idle, since he has been accustomed to a life of activity. He is not there long before he becomes acquainted with a citizen or real estate agent who has done well, speculating on land. Wishing him a pleasant stay they suggest that he may as well take an option on some lots for ninety days as he will not be out anything, and in this way he can pay the expense of his trip and perhaps clear a thousand dollars, as many have done. At first he looks dubious, but little by little is drawn in.

     I had traveled around the world and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, and had never had a settled home. While in Lakeland, Fla., I was offered three nice lots in the growing section, at "a bargain." Thinking this would be a nice location for a little home, I accepted the offer. Later, when we bought a church in the same town for $1,000, the pilgrims were so poor that we were able to raise but $200.00. In order to close the deal we must have $500.00 for the first payment; and as no one else came forward with the money, I proposed to put my three lots on the market and turn the money in on the church. After much advertising a buyer came who took them at $300.00. He held these lots but two weeks when he was offered $600.00 for them. As soon as the property left my hands, the other man could double his money, but God loved me too well to let me do so.

     After having secured the church, some one suggested that it would be nice to get the four vacant lots in the same block for pilgrims who might want to build near the church. Accordingly, I wrote to Jacksonville, but my letter was returned marked "uncalled for." About the same time an enemy to our work wrote to the same person and succeeded in buying the' lots, held them but a few days and doubled his money.

     God loved me too well.

     Another instance: A reliable real estate agent seemed to take a liking to me. He said he had just cleared $50,000, and would like to help me make a little money. He suggested that I take an option on sixty acres of land, so took me out on an auto driveway in the direction in which the city was fast building. There was enough timber on the place to pay for it. He offered it to me for $45.00 an acre. I was to pay a small sum down to hold it and in six months' time triple my money. As T had a little money which r was to use in publishing a new book, I told him I might do so. If the deal went through, I of course would gain, and if not, he would refund the "purchase price." It all seemed "Providential" (?). Oh, how the devil has used that word!

     But I waited and wrote repeatedly, attempting to secure a clear title, and finally had to give it up. A short time after this, another man took hold of it and soon had good papers. He had held it only a little while when he was offered $2S0.00 an acre for the front acreage. God loved me too well to let me clear $8,000.00 in so short a time. I had planned on using it to get out good books and help establish holiness, but other men have likewise entertained great and good plans until the money was actually in their hands and then they changed or forgot their former plans and said to themselves, "I never made money so easily and so fast in my life before; I believe I will try it again." He got into the current and never recovered himself. Poor Demas! Paul said, "He hath forsaken me, having loved this present world."

     Others can double their money in a few days, but this kind of success has ruined more than one good man, and God loved me too well to let it come my way. I have never known one man (and I have known many) who has made money fast, who in his serious moments did not say, " have done so to my own hurt. I am less spiritual than when I was struggling with poverty."

     God kept me not only from getting into a spirit of speculation, but also from too much appreciation. Most young preachers and evangelists seem to strive for recognition and popularity. They how, fawn and scrape before the 'higher ups" in order to get their names and pictures in print; they tone down and go back on past light, in fact, are willing to lose their identity if they can only stand in with ecclesiastical diplomats, or those who have a little money. God in mercy did not let me do this but, on the other hand, held me to the most radical and unpopular truths. This was what saved me. Grant that I may have had more zeal than knowledge at times, in championing certain unpopular issues, such as death to carnality, plainness of dress, etc., yet God mercifully overruled it and used it to

     "Keep me little and unknown,

     Loved and prized by God alone."

     Very few, especially young preachers, dwell deep enough in God to survive luxuries and a large circle of friends. God loved me too well to let me have either.

     The Right Must Win

 

      Oh, it is hard to work for God,

     To rise and take His part

     upon this battlefield of earth,

     And not sometimes lose heart!

 

      He hides Himself so wondrously

     As though there were no God;

     He is least seen when all the powers

     Of ill are most abroad.

 

      Or He deserts us in the hour

     The fight is all but lost;

     And seems to leave us to ourselves

     Just when we need Him most.

 

      It is not so, but so it looks;

     And we lose courage then;

     And doubts will come if God hath kept,

     His promises to men.

 

      But right is right, since God is God,

     And right the day must win;

     To doubt would be disloyalty,

     To falter would be sin.

 

                                              -- Faber