A good conscience toward God.
This solemn avowal, ordained to be made at the completion of the round of tithe obligations, was a wise safeguard against unpunctuality and neglect. The subject suggested is—The importance of self-examination in respect of the fulfillment of duties of religion.
I. SELF-EXAMINATION A DUTY. The text suggests that we examine ourselves:
1. As to religious givings.
2. As to our fulfillment of the duties of hospitality and charity.
3. As to the condition in which these duties have been performed
—whether from the right motive (regard to God's commandment), and in a right state (the state of sanctification). Extend the principle to all duties of religion.
Self-examination, to be of service, should be:
1. Comprehensive.
2. Conscientious—as "before the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 26:13), who cannot be deceived.
3. Periodical, as:
II. SELF-EXAMINATION A SAFEGUARD.
1. Prevents neglect. Things which we ought to do—which, at bottom, we are willing to do—get frequently overlooked:
A review of the kind proposed would bring many of these forgotten duties to recollection, and would act as a check on the causes of forgetfulness.
2. Brings practice into comparison with the standard of obligation. When duty is known, it does not follow that it is always done, or that we are always aware of the extent of our shortcomings. We may be greatly deceiving ourselves in this very particular. There may grow upon us the vicious habit of comparing ourselves with others rather than with the standard of the Divine Law. And nowhere is self-deception more common than in the matter of religious and charitable givings. People will be heard expatiating on the vexatiousness of the calls of this kind made on them, who, were they to put their givings all together, would find that they did not amount to so much as they have often spent on the gratification of some whim, perhaps on a single dinner-party. Self-examination would counteract the tendency to take our performances of duty so readily for granted. It would e.g. require the rich man to measure his givings directly with his income, and with the proportion of that income which he felt to be due to God.
3. Reminds us of the obligations themselves. For, besides the shortcomings in practice referred to, there is often no little danger that the standard of duty itself may get to be lost sight of.
4. Makes hypocrisy more difficult. The withholder of the tithes would scarcely venture to stand before God and make this solemn declaration. His tongue might well cleave to the roof of his mouth if he attempted it. He would feel that he must either go and do what he ought or hold his peace. The hypocritical professor shuns self-examination.
Two thoughts in closing:
1. We cannot expect blessing, save as duties are honorably fulfilled (Deuteronomy 26:15).
2. Reflecting on fulfilled duties, we need to beware of Pharisaic pride (Luke 18:11, Luke 18:12).—J.O.