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The Adventist Home
losing side will be presented to your view—the good that you might
have done with the accumulated mites and the larger sums that were
used for wholly selfish purposes
Watch the Pennies and Nickels—Waste not your pennies and
your shillings in purchasing unnecessary things. You may think these
little sums do not amount to much, but these many littles will prove a
great whole. If we could, we would plead for the means that is spent in
needless things, in dress and selfish indulgence. Poverty in every shape
is on every hand. And God has made it our duty to relieve suffering
humanity in every way possible.
The Lord would have His people thoughtful and caretaking. He
would have them study economy in everything, and waste nothing
[384]
The amount daily spent in needless things, with the thought, “It
is only a nickel,” “It is only a dime,” seems very little; but multiply
these littles by the days of the year, and as the years go by, the array
of figures will seem almost incredible
Do Not Emulate Fashionable Neighbors—It is not best to pre-
tend to be rich, or anything above what we are—humble followers
of the meek and lowly Saviour. We are not to feel disturbed if our
neighbors build and furnish their houses in a manner that we are not
authorized to follow. How must Jesus look upon our selfish provision
for the indulgence of appetite, to please our guests, or to gratify our
own inclination! It is a snare to us to aim at making a display or to
allow our children, under our control, to do so
Personal Experience in Mrs. White’s Girlhood—When I was
only twelve years old, I knew what it was to economize. With my
sister I learned a trade, and although we would earn only twenty-five
cents a day, from this sum we were able to save a little to give to
missions. We saved little by little until we had thirty dollars. Then
when the message of the Lord’s soon coming came to us, with a call
for men and means, we felt it a privilege to hand over the thirty dollars
to father, asking him to invest it in tracts and pamphlets to send the
message to those who were in darkness....
7
The Review and Herald, August 11, 1891
.
8
Letter 21, 1898
.
9
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 63
.
10
Letter 8, 1889
.