Editorial May 5, 1928 Issue

"Be content with your wages"

Ella W. Hoag

When John the Baptist was proclaiming himself as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight," there were certain solders who came to him asking what they should do in order to bring forth "fruits meet for repentance." To them he replied, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." This admonition of John is equally applicable to every soldier in the Christian warfare, and all may profit by its earnest consideration.

That men should neither do violence nor accuse falsely has been accepted almost universally as a necessary expression of right conduct. That they should be content with their wages has seemed quite another matter. Into the question of wages there has been apt to enter a multitude of mistaken motives. Even Christians have approached this subject with a very decided sense of what they have deemed to be their personal rights. They have estimated their own efforts from the standpoint of their own personal sense of values, and as a consequence have been inclined to dictate to God as to what they have considered their own dues.

Such practice has been based on the evil elements of selfwill, self-love, and self-justification. Since these know naught but self-seeking, and perpetually cry, "Give, give," they are not that unselfed love which alone can receive from God. On the contrary, they deceive mortals into a more or less constant attitude of bargaining with Him. "So much reward, so much service," say they! Indeed, men are often tempted thus to weigh things with their Maker, thinking far more of the compensation they are to receive than of the service they intend later to render.

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