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Nothing Between Us and God, December 12
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer ... all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith ... worth more
than gold, ... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and
honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 1:6, 7
, NIV.
When we are tempted to place our affections on any earthly object that has a
tendency to absorb our love, we must seek grace to turn from it, and not allow it to
come between us and our God. We want to keep before the mind’s eye the mansions
which Jesus has gone to prepare for us. We must not allow our houses and lands, our
business transactions and worldly enterprises, to come between us and our God. We
should keep before us the rich promises that He has left on record. We should study
the great waymarks that point out the times in which we are living. We know that
we are very near the close of this earth’s history, and everything of a worldly nature
should be secondary to the service of God. We should now pray most earnestly that
we may be prepared for the struggles of the great day of God’s preparation. We
should rejoice in the prospect of soon being with Jesus in the mansions He has gone
to prepare for us. Jesus can supply your every need, if you will look to Him and
trust in Him. As you behold Him, you will be charmed with the riches of the glory
of His divine love. The idolatrous love of things that are seen will be superseded
by a higher and better love for things that are imperishable and precious. You may
contemplate eternal riches until your affections are bound to things above, and you
may be an instrument in directing others to set their affections on heavenly treasures.
You can help them to see that money spent needlessly is wasted, and worse than
wasted; for it might have been used in presenting the truth to souls who are ready to
perish. If the spendthrift is redeemed, it will be by having an object placed before
him that will show him the sin of wasting his Lord’s goods. The Lord requires
His servants to trade upon the goods that He has put in their charge. The talents
which He has given to them are to be improved by exercise. The money placed in
their hands is to be put out to the exchangers.... Those who rightly value money
are those who see its availability in bringing the truth before those who have never
heard it, and by this means rescuing them from the power of the enemy. The soul
who accepts the truth will find his love for earthly things dislodged. He sees the
surpassing glory of heavenly things, and appreciates the excellency of that which
relates to everlasting life. He is charmed with the unseen and eternal. His grasp
loosens from earthly things; he fastens his eye with admiration upon the invisible
glories of the heavenly world. He realizes that his trials are working out for him a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and in comparison to the riches that
are his to enjoy, he counts them light afflictions which are but for a moment (
The
Review and Herald, June 23, 1896
).
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