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Seek for the Living Bread, April 24
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above,
not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:1, 2
.
When temporal matters absorb the mind and engage the attention, the whole
strength of the being is engaged in the service of man, and men look upon the
worship due to God as a trifling matter. Religious interests are made subservient to
the world. But Jesus, who has paid the ransom for the souls of the human family,
requires that men shall subordinate temporal interests to the heavenly interests. He
would have them cease to indulge in hoarding up earthly treasures, in spending
money upon luxuries, and in surrounding themselves with all those things which
they do not need. He would not have them destroy spiritual power, but directs their
attention to heavenly things.
He urges that men should seek more earnestly and continually for the bread of
life than for the bread which perishes. He says, “Labour not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of
man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed”.... It is the Word of
God that is essential for our spiritual growth. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the
flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life.” Those who are doers of the words of Christ will bring heaven into their life.
Christ is our Redeemer, our owner, and He is intensely interested that we shall
have peace in this world. He seeks to present before us the attractions of heaven;
for where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. To lay up treasure in heaven
is to use our God-given capabilities in acquiring means and influence that may be
used for the glory of God. Every dollar we earn is the Lord’s property, and should
be used in reference to the time when we shall be called to give an account of our
stewardship. No one of us will be able to evade the future reckoning. By choosing
to lay up treasure in heaven, our characters will be molded after the likeness of
Christ. The world will see that our hopes and plans are made in reference to the
advancement of the truth and the salvation of perishing souls. They will see that
Christ is all in all to those who love Him....
In securing treasure in heaven, we place ourselves in living connection with
God, who owns all the treasures of the earth, and supplies all temporal mercies that
are essential for life. Every soul may secure the eternal inheritance. The Lord opens
the fact before His people that there is full room for the exercise of their faculties,
for the fulfillment of their loftiest aims, for the acquirements of the choicest and
most enduring treasure. They may lay up treasures where neither fire nor flood nor
any manner of adversity can touch (
The Review and Herald, April 7, 1896
).
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