Chapter 28—Wealth an Entrusted Talent
The followers of Christ are not to despise wealth; they are to look
upon wealth as the Lord’s entrusted talent. By a wise use of His gifts,
they may be eternally benefited, but we are to bear the fact in mind that
God has not given us riches to use just as we shall fancy, to indulge
impulse, to bestow or withhold as we shall please. We are not to use
riches in a selfish way, devoting them simply to our own enjoyment.
This course would not be doing right toward God or toward our fellow
men, and would bring at last only perplexity and trouble....
The world favors the rich, and looks upon them as of greater value
than the honest poor man; but the rich are developing their characters
after the manner in which they use their entrusted gifts. They are
making manifest whether or not it will be safe to trust them with eternal
riches. Both the poor and the rich are deciding their own eternal destiny
and proving whether they are fit subjects for the inheritance of the
saints in light. Those who put their riches to a selfish use in this world
are revealing attributes of character that show what they would do if
they had greater advantages, and possessed the imperishable treasures
of the kingdom of God. The selfish principles exercised on the earth
are not the principles which will prevail in heaven. All men stand on
an equality in heaven....
Why is it that riches are called unrighteous mammon?—It is be-
cause Satan uses worldly treasure to ensnare, deceive, and delude
souls, to accomplish their ruin. God has given directions as to how
they are to appropriate His goods in relieving the wants of suffering
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humanity, in advancing His cause, in building up His kingdom in the
world, in sending missionaries into regions beyond, in disseminating
the knowledge of Christ in all parts of the world. If the God-entrusted
means are not thus applied, will not God surely judge for these things?
Souls are left to perish in their sins while church members who claim
to be Christians are using God’s sacred trust of means in gratifying
unholy appetites, in indulging self.
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