In Haggai's strong metaphor, the poor day-labourer earns his small wage
and puts it into a ragged bag, or as we should say, a pocket with a hole
in it; and when he comes to look for it, it is gone, and all his toil is
for nothing. What a picture this is of the very experience that befalls
all men who work for less wages than God's 'Well done.' Take an instance
or two: here is a man who works hard for a long time, and puts his money
into some bank, and one morning he gets a letter to tell him the bank's
doors are closed, and his savings gone--a bag with holes. Here is a man
who climbs by slow degrees to the head of his profession and lives in
popular admiration, and some day he sees a younger competitor shooting
ahead of him, and all is lost--a bag with holes. Here is a man who has,
by some great discovery, established his fame or his fortune, and a new
man, standing on his shoulders, makes a greater, and his fame dwarfs and
his trade runs into other channels--a bag with holes. Here is a man who
has conquered a world, and dies on the rock of St. Helena, with his
pompous titles stripped off him, and instead of kingdoms a rood or two
of garden, and instead of his legions, half a dozen soldiers, a doctor,
and a jailer--a bag with holes. Here is a man who, having amassed his
riches and kept them without loss all his life, is dying. They cannot go
with him. That would not matter; but unfortunately he has to live
yonder, and he will have 'nothing of all his labour that he can carry
away in his hands'--a bag with holes.
Such loss and final separation befall us all; but he who loves God loses
none of his real treasure when he parts from earthly treasures. Fortune
may turn her wheel as she pleases, his wealth cannot be taken from him.
His riches are laid up in a sure storehouse, 'where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt.' We each live for ever. Should we not have for our
object in life that which is eternal as ourselves? Why should we fix
our hopes on that which is not abiding--on things that can perish, on
things that we must lose? Let us not run this awful risk. Do not
impoverish or darken life here; do not condemn yourselves to unfruitful
toil, to unsatisfied desires, to unguarded calamities, to unstable
possessions; but come, as sinful men ought to come, to Jesus Christ for
pardon and for life. Then, in due season, you will reap if you faint
not; and the harvest will not be little, but 'some sixty-fold and some
an hundred-fold'; then you will 'hunger no more, neither thirst any
more,' but 'He that hath mercy on you will lead you to living fountains
of water'; then you will not have to draw your poor rags round you for
warmth, but shall be clothed with the robe of righteousness and the
garment of praise; then you will never need to fear the loss of your
riches, but bear with you whilst you live your treasures beyond the
reach of change, and will find them multiplied a thousand-fold when you
die and go to God, your portion and your joy for ever.