Chapter 42—Wills and Legacies
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” Selfishness
is a soul-destroying sin. Under this head comes covetousness, which is
idolatry. All things belong to God. All the prosperity we enjoy is the
result of divine beneficence. God is the great and bountiful giver. If He
requires any portion of the liberal supply He has given us, it is not that
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He may be enriched by our gifts, for He needs nothing from our hand;
but it is that we may have an opportunity to exercise self-denial, love,
and sympathy for our fellow men, and thus become highly exalted.
In every dispensation, from Adam’s time to ours, God has claimed
the property of man, saying: I am the rightful owner of the universe;
therefore consecrate to Me thy first fruits, bring a tribute of loyalty,
surrender to Me My own, thus acknowledging My sovereignty, and
you shall be free to retain and enjoy My bounties, and My blessing
shall be with you. “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the
first fruits of all thine increase.”
God’s requirements come first. We are not doing His will if we
consecrate to Him what is left of our income after all our imaginary
wants have been supplied. Before any part of our earnings is consumed,
we should take out and present to Him that portion which He claims.
In the old dispensation an offering of gratitude was kept continually
burning upon the altar, thus showing man’s endless obligation to God.
If we have prosperity in our secular business, it is because God blesses
us. A part of this income is to be devoted to the poor, and a large
portion to be applied to the cause of God. When that which God
claims is rendered to Him, the remainder will be sanctified and blessed
to our own use. But when a man robs God by withholding that which
He requires, His curse rests upon the whole.
God has made men the channels through which His gifts are to flow
to sustain the work which He would have carried forward in the world.
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