Religious Investments
Ecclesiastes xi. 1 v.
“Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.”
What a dangerous investment! Was there ever a bank less likely to give safe interest? Yet, in the spiritual world, speculation is the law of God. If I would save my fallen brother, I must give without security. The beggar stands at nrv door, and says he is starving. Is he starving? What if he be an impostor? What if my gift shall be squandered at the nearest inn? Truly my way to charity is in the sea, and my path through the deep. None the less is it the way, the path, for me. Am I forbidden to say “Let there be light” until the waters be gathered into one place and the dry land appears? How do I know that light itself is not needed to dry the waters? How do I know that my gift may not be the turning-point in the man’s life? Does my Father keep His forgiveness until He sees the fruits of the Spirit? No; He says g 2
over the chaos, “Let there be light.” He sends out His sunbeams into the dark. He sends them out on speculation. He makes an investment of His love in a bank most perilous; He risks His heart upon the storm. Oh! Love, divinely speculative, Love that hast not waited for the assurance of reward, Love that hast perilled all upon the merest possibility, let me mould myself in Thee. Many a dove has been sent from my ark, and has come back no more. If I listened to the voice of reason, I would say, “Let me send no further gifts; they will be lost on the face of the waters.” But Thou, oh Love, art earlier than reason; Thou art before all things. Thou lingerest not for the ceasing of the storm; the stillness follows Thee, and does not precede Thee. Thy smile rises in the tempest. Thine eye beams in the night. Thy heart glows in the winter. Thou lightest the waves while yet they are troubled; Thou givest in advance Thy gold. Make me in Thine own image once more. Give me the power to speculate — to risk like Thee. Give me the charity that can live when prophecy has failed and knowledge ceases — that can believe in the fallen when there is no sign, and love them when there is no certainty. The bread I shall cast upon the waters may not be found till after many days; but in the very moment of my casting I shall find Thee.