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Faithful Stewards Provide for God’s Work, June 30
I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will
keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles.
Isaiah 42:6
, NKJV.
I had been shown that some people who are shrewd, prudent, and sharp in
regard to the transaction of business generally, some who are distinguished for
promptness and thoroughness, manifest a want of foresight and promptness in
regard to a proper disposal of their property while they are living. They know not
how soon their probation may close; yet they pass on from year to year with their
business unsettled, and frequently their lives finally close without their having the
use of their reason. Or they may die suddenly, without a moment’s warning, and
their property be disposed of in a manner that they would not have approved. These
are guilty of negligence; they are unfaithful stewards.
Christians who believe the present truth should manifest wisdom and foresight.
They should not neglect the disposition of their means, expecting a favorable
opportunity to adjust their business during a long illness. They should have their
business in such a shape that, were they called at any hour to leave it, and should
they have no voice in its arrangement, it might be settled as they would have had it
were they alive.
Many families have been dishonestly robbed of all their property and have been
subjected to poverty because the work that might have been well done in an hour
had been neglected. Those who make their wills should not spare pains or expense
to obtain legal advice and to have them drawn up in a manner to stand the test.
I saw that those who profess to believe the truth should show their faith by their
works. They should, with the unrighteous mammon, make friends, that they may
finally be received into everlasting habitations. God has made men and women
stewards of means. He has placed in their hands the money with which to carry
forward the great work for the salvation of souls for whom Christ left His home,
His riches, His glory, and became poor that He might, by His own humiliation and
sacrifice, bring many sons and daughters of Adam to God.
In His providence the Lord has ordained that the work in His vineyard should
be sustained by the means entrusted to the hands of His stewards. A neglect on their
part to answer the calls of the cause of God in carrying forward His work shows
them to be unfaithful and slothful servants.—
Testimonies for the Church 3:116,
117
.
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