Pastor Message

God Blesses the Cheerful Giver

I wanted to share with you this great example of how God blesses us when we are faithful to him.

The Colgate-Palmolive Company is one of the oldest in America, going back nearly two hundred years.  It was started by a young man named William Colgate.  He left home at sixteen years of age to seek his fortune.  On his way he met an old neighbor, the captain of the canal boat, and the words the old man spoke to him that day stayed with him his entire life. 

“Well, William, where are you going? Asked the man.

“I don’t know,” said the young man, “and all I know is how to make soap and candles.”

“Well,” said the old man, “let me pray with you and give you a little advice.”  He prayed earnestly for William; then the boat captain said:  “Someone will soon be a leading soap maker in New York.  It can be you as well as anyone.  Be a good man; give your heart to Christ; give the Lord all that belongs to him; make an honest soap; and I am certain you will be a prosperous and rich man.”

When William arrived in New York, he had trouble finding a job, but he followed the old man’s advice.  He dedicated himself to Christ, joined a church, and began worshiping there.  The first thing he did with the first dollar he earned was to give ten percent of it to the Lord’s work. In fact, he soon began giving 20 percent of his income to the Lord, then he raised it to 30 percent, then to 40 percent, then to 50 percent.  And late in his life, he has become so successful that he devoted the whole of his yearly income—100 percent of it—to the Lord.

And even today, this very morning, nearly two hundred years later, some of us brushed our teeth or washed our hands with products from that faithful young man’s factory.