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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
to despise the day of small things. God’s providence proportions His
trusts according to the varied capabilities of the people. None should
mourn because they cannot glorify God with talents which they never
possessed and for which they are not responsible.
One great cause of weakness in the-----church has been that, in-
stead of improving their talents to the glory of God, they have wrapped
them in a napkin and buried them in the world. Although some may be
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restricted to one talent, yet if they will exercise that one, it will increase.
God values the service according to what a man has and not according
to what he has not. If we perform our daily duties with fidelity and
love we shall receive the approval of the Master as if we had performed
a greater work. We must cease longing to do great service and to trade
on large talents, while we have been made accountable only for small
talents and the performance of humble duties. In overlooking the small
daily duties, and reaching for higher responsibilities, we utterly fail to
do the very work which God has given us.
Oh, that I might impress upon this church the fact that Christ has
claims upon their service! My brethren and sisters, have you become
servants of Christ? Then if you devote the most of your time to serving
yourselves, what answer will you give the Master when He shall bid
you render an account of your stewardship? The talents entrusted to
us are not ours, be they talents of property, of strength, or of mental
ability. If we abuse any or all of these, we shall be justly condemned
for our unworthy stewardship. How great are the obligations resting
upon us to render to God the things that are His.
Unless this church shall arouse from their lethargy and shake off
the spirit of the world, they will mourn when, too late, they find their
opportunities and privileges lost, lost forever. The Lord sometimes
tests His people with prosperity in temporal things. But He intends
that they shall make a right use of His gifts. Their property, their time,
their strength, and their opportunities are all of God. For all these
blessings they must account to the Giver. While want and destitution
are seen among our brethren, and we withhold relief from them when
our own necessities are supplied, we neglect a plain duty revealed in
the word of God. He gives to us liberally that we may give to others.
It is beneficence that overcomes selfishness and ennobles and purifies
the soul. Some abuse the talents given them of God; they close their
eyes that they may not see the necessities of His cause and turn away