"At the end of every seven
years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release:Every
creditor who lends anything unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not
exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s
release…. If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any
of your gates in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not
harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall
open your hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his
need, in that which he wants" (Deut. 15:1-10).

Here the deep springs of the poor
selfish heart are discovered and judged. There is nothing like grace for making
manifest the hidden roots of evil in human nature. Man must be renewed in the
very deepest springs of his moral being before he can be the vehicle of divine
love; and even those who are thus through grace renewed have to watch
continually against the hideous forms of selfishness in which our fallen nature
clothes itself. Nothing but grace can keep the heart open wide to every form of
human need. We must abide hard by the fountain of heavenly love if we would be
channels of blessing in the midst of a scene of misery and desolation like this
fallen world.

How lovely are those words,
"You shall open your hand wide"! They breathe the very air of heaven.
An open heart and a wide hand are like God. "The Lord loves a cheerful
giver" (2 Cor. 9:7), because that is precisely what He is Himself. He
"gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not" Jas. 1:5). And He
would grant unto us the rare and most exquisite privilege of being imitators of
Him. Marvelous grace! The very thought of it fills the heart with wonder, love,
and praise. We are not only saved by grace, but we stand in grace, live under
the blessed reign of grace, breathe the very atmosphere of grace, and are
called to be the living exponents of grace, not only to our brethren, but to
the whole human family. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good
unto all men, especially unto those who are of the household of faith"
(Gal. 6:10).

Christian reader, let us
diligently apply our hearts to all this divine instruction. It is most
precious; but its real preciousness can only be tasted in the practical
carrying out of it. We are surrounded by ten thousand forms of human misery,
human sorrow, human need. There are broken hearts, crushed spirits, desolate
homes around us on every side. The widow, the orphan, and the stranger meet us
daily in our walks. How do we carry ourselves in reference to all these? Are we
hardening our hearts and closing our hands against them? or are we seeking to
act in the lovely spirit of "the Lord’s release"? We must bear in
mind that we are called to be reflectors of the divine nature and character—to
be direct channels of communication between our Father’s loving heart and every
form of human need. We are not to live for ourselves; to do so is a most
miserable denial of every feature and principle of that morally glorious
Christianity which we profess. It is our high and holy privilege, yes, it is
our special mission, to shed around us the blessed light of that heaven to
which we belong. Wherever we are—in the home, in the field, in the market, in
the office, in the school, in the factory, in the assembly, all who come in
contact with us should see the grace of Jesus shining out in our ways, our
words, our very looks. And then, if any object of need come before us, if we
can do nothing more, we should drop a soothing word into the ear, or shed a
tear, or heave a sigh of genuine, heart-felt sympathy.

Reader, is it thus with us? Are
we so living near the fountain of divine love, and so breathing the very air of
heaven, that the blessed fragrance of these things shall be diffused around us?
Or are we displaying the odious selfishness of nature, the unholy tempers and
dispositions of our fallen and corrupt humanity? What an unsightly object is a
selfish Christian! He is a standing contradiction, a living, moving lie. The
Christianity which he professes throws into dark and terrible relief the unholy
selfishness which governs his heart and comes out in his life.

The Lord grant that all who
profess and call themselves Christians may so carry themselves in daily life as
to be an unblotted epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. In this way,
unbelievers will be deprived of one of their weightiest arguments, their
gravest objections. Nothing affords a stronger plea to the infidel than the
inconsistent lives of professing Christians. Not that such a plea will stand
for a moment, or even be urged, before the judgment seat of Christ, inasmuch as
each one who has within his reach a copy of the holy Scriptures will be judged
by the light of those Scriptures, even though there were not a single
consistent Christian on the face of the earth.

Nevertheless, we Christians are
solemnly responsible to let our light so shine before men that they may see our
good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). We are
solemnly bound to exhibit and illustrate in daily life the heavenly principles unfolded
in the Word of God. We should leave the Christ-hater without a shred of a plea
or an argument; we are responsible so to do.