The Christian Philosophy of Thrift

The Christian philosophy of thrift transcends philosophy and the ethics of all times. It takes the attitude of the Son of God toward the individual and makes it universal. It carries out the spirit of Kant's categorical imperative; it goes into the unknown and hoped-for life after death and assures us of its reality. That philosophy includes all ages and races and possibilities; eager to shape every interest and capacity; moulding humanity into the image of the creator not alone in outward form but in inward spirit, until the divine pattern is produced in the children of the ages.There are systems of philosophy attached to every interest of life; but the Christian philosophy of thrift includes and surpasses them all in power and reach. It was Jesus Christ who gave to life its real value; life prized so highly that He gave His own for His conviction. Man needs to know the meaning of his existence if there is to be respect for self or the world about him. Whatever tends to extend that knowledge or make that life richer and freer and more aggressive along the lines of progress, that has value. But when there comes another light that includes not alone what a man needs and is and wants; but what a man can be and achieve because of his relationship to God; then the world has a power at work within humanity itself that makes us sharers with the divine in a world of time and eternity. That power was revealed in the manger-born Son of God.