Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/63

Contributor - Henry T. Rozendaal

Title - Much For Little

Topic - Materialism

"A Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth" Luke 12 :15

I suppose that, in the life of any age or of any person, there is one or more tendency or philosophy. There was one thing in the thinking of the man to whom Jesus spoke that wanted satisfaction. He wanted to receive something. It may be that it was his just due; it may be that his grievance was only fancied; but he wanted the satisfaction of getting something for little or nothing.

That, we believe, is the prevailing, and gravely erring, philosophy of our day. From the high school student to the workman of experience, from the office to the home, there seems to be the feeling that when one gets something cheaply the top experience has been reached. Then one becomes the object of congratulations and, perhaps, of envy.

The great struggle of men is not to furnish righteous returns, The goal is not to be known as always giving full measure; but rather to get. You see it in the striving after government preferences; in the seeking for subsidies; in the keen lobbying of class or group. You seem to see it in the labour-management struggle, where the effort is to get or to keep and make more. You encounter it many times every day if you keep your radio tuned in on the "give away" programs of advertisers. And it is at the bottom of the craze for getting expressed so often over the gambler's table.

It is noticeable that its ardent advocates are not those who prosper most; but those who know how to make the philosophy of the people serve their ends. It is the individual who will give who climbs to the top. There is no "overtime" in the office of our biggest men.

Now the thing we're interested in, just now, is to point out that this philosophy is not one that is instrumental to virile and satisfying Godliness. Have you ever seen people who made you think they were trying to practice the minimum of religion? They went to church often enough to keep their names on the book. They gave enough to the work of religion to appear to share in it. They sometimes got their names on the rolls of the classes for instruction given in their churches, sometimes not. In all, they gave as little effort or energy or gold or good to the cause of Christ as they could possibly "get by" with. The principle seemed to be to get whatever religion could give them; but to give as little as possible - Much for Little. To them, the Lord would say, "Your life consisteth not in the abundance of the things you possess" or get.

True religion hats another goal. It has an object other than the subject. Who is truly religious is not thinking of himself as the goal of all his efforts, or aspirations. He sees God in Christ Jesus.

There are things that please Him to think of. There are things that magnify Him to bear in mind. And there are those who ought to know Him to remember. The principle that moves the individual in true religion is not, "What can 11 get"; but "What can I do or give ?" Because it has another view, and because it seeks to accomplish something, it does not flourish well under the "Much for Little"-philosophy. We'll spend a quiet moment Profitably if we meditate a bit on the sterility of this philosophy; and if, upon meditating on it, we are turned to the philosophy which nourishes sturdy souls which will give with the satisfaction of getting little for much. The writer remembers of once having asked his teacher what was wrong with the philosophy of the, then known, socialists, seeing that the early Christian church had for a time not said that "aught of the things they possessed was their own". The answer he got was that the principle of socialism was to get; while the principle of Christianity is to give. The same contrast is visible in the current philosophy of getting for nothing and that of the Lord who taught that we do not live to possess.

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