Principles of Family Finance
289
God does not require that His people should deprive themselves
of that which is really necessary for their health and comfort, but He
does not approve of wantonness and extravagance and display
Learn When to Spare and When to Spend—You should learn to
know when to spare and when to spend. We cannot be Christ’s follow-
ers unless we deny self and lift the cross. We should pay up squarely
as we go; gather up the dropped stitches; bind off your raveling edges,
and know just what you can call your own. You should reckon up
all the littles spent in self-gratification. You should notice what is
used simply to gratify taste and in cultivating a perverted, epicurean
appetite. The money expended for useless delicacies might be used to
add to your substantial home comforts and conveniences. You are not
to be penurious; you are to be honest with yourself and your brethren.
Penuriousness is an abuse of God’s bounties. Lavishness is also an
abuse. The little outgoes that you think of as not worth mentioning
[380]
amount to considerable in the end
The Surrendered Heart Will Be Guided—It is not necessary to
specify here how economy may be practiced in every particular. Those
whose hearts are fully surrendered to God, and who take His word as
their guide, will know how to conduct themselves in all the duties of
life. They will learn of Jesus, who is meek and lowly of heart; and
in cultivating the meekness of Christ, they will close the door against
innumerable temptations
[381]
26
The Review and Herald, December 19, 1893
.
27
Letter 11, 1888
.
28
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 63
.