(12.23.13) George Müller, Christian Schools, & "Giving at Interest"

A man whose life inspires our Gospel work here at Hope Academy is George Müller (Sept. 27, 1805-March 10, 1898). Müller asked the Lord to provide, and God provided in miraculous ways. Müller’s Ashley Down orphanage cared for more than 10,000 orphans during his lifetime, and Müller also helped establish 117 Christian schools that educated more than 120,000 children, many of them orphans.

 On August 30, 1849, Müller received a fifty pound note from a donor (~$7,000 today), who had been a long-time supporter of his work. The gift was accompanied by these words: “This will be the last large sum I shall be able to transmit to you. Almost all the rest is already out at interest.”

 Müller knew that by ‘out at interest,‘ the giver meant that he had given nearly everything away to the Lord’s work — and was storing up for himself — at interest — treasures in Heaven (see Matt. 6:19-21).

 But in fact, it was not the donor’s last gift. Müller writes:

Since that time I have received other donations from the same donor, and much larger still. He used for God the means with which He was pleased to intrust him, and contrary to this brother’s expectation, the above fifty pounds was not the last large donation; for it pleased God soon after to intrust him with another considerable sum, which he again used for the Lord.

This did not at all surprise me; for it is the Lord’s order, that, in whatever way He is pleased to make us His stewards, whether as to temporal or spiritual things, if we are indeed acting as stewards and not as owners, he will make us stewards over more.

I am personally so grateful for all of our supporters, and your faithful stewardship in helping urban youth receive a remarkable, Christ-centered education since our founding in 2000. The past fourteen years and our nearly 400 students are just one evidence of the Lord’s honoring your generosity.

Our prayer, though, is that you would know that you are storing up treasures in Heaven — and you are doing so at interest. May the Lord make you stewards over more — to supply more of His work for eternity.