Object Lesson
161
perfection required in the building of the earthly tabernacle. And now,
as in that time and as in the days of Christ’s earthly ministry, devotion
to God and a spirit of sacrifice should be regarded as the first requisites
of acceptable service. God designs that not one thread of selfishness
shall be woven into His work.
An Experience in Seventh-day Adventist History
Great care should be taken in regard to the spirit pervading the
Lord’s institutions. These institutions were founded in self-sacrifice,
and have been built up by the self-denying gifts of God’s people
and the unselfish labor of His servants. Everything connected with
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institutional service should bear the signature of Heaven. A sense of the
sacredness of God’s institutions should be encouraged and cultivated.
The workers are to humble their hearts before the Lord, acknowledging
His sovereignty. All are to live in accordance with principles of self-
denial. As the true, self-sacrificing laborer, with his spiritual lamp
trimmed and burning, strives unselfishly to advance the interests of the
institution in which he is working, he will have a precious experience,
and will be able to say, “The Lord indeed is in this place.” He will feel
that he is highly privileged in being permitted to give to the Lord’s
institution his ability, his service, and his unwearying vigilance.
In the early days of the third angel’s message those who established
our institutions, and those who labored in them, were actuated by high
motives of unselfishness. For their arduous labors they received no
more than a mere pittance—barely enough for a meager support. But
their hearts were baptized with the ministry of love. The reward of
whole-souled liberality was apparent in their close fellowship with the
Spirit of the Master Worker. They practiced the closest economy, in
order that as many other laborers as possible might be planting the
standard of truth in new places.
But in time a change came. The spirit of sacrifice was not so
manifest. In some of our institutions the wages of a few workers were
increased beyond reason. Those who received these wages claimed
that they deserved a greater sum than others, because of their superior
talents. But who gave them their talents, their ability? With the
increase of wages came a steady increase of covetousness, which is
idolatry, and a steady decline of spirituality. Gross evils crept in, and