Counsels on Stewardship
361
Lord’s goods will by and by have to give an account of their course to
the Master.
If professed Christians would use less of their wealth in adorning
the body and in beautifying their own houses, and would consume
less in extravagant, health-destroying luxuries upon their tables, they
could place much larger sums in the treasury of God. They would thus
imitate their Redeemer, who left heaven, His riches, and His glory,
and for our sakes became poor, that we might have eternal riches.
But many, when they begin to gather earthly riches, commence
to calculate how long it will be before they can be in possession of
a certain sum. In their anxiety to amass wealth for themselves they
fail to become rich toward God. Their benevolence does not keep
pace with their accumulation. As their passion for riches increases,
their affections are bound up with their treasure. The increase of their
property strengthens the eager desire for more, until some consider
that their giving to the Lord a tenth is a severe and unjust tax.
Inspiration has said: “If riches increase, set not your heart upon
them.”
Psalm 62:10
. Many have said: “If I were as rich as such a one,
I would multiply my gifts to the treasury of God. I would do nothing
else with my wealth but use it for the advancement of the cause of
God.” God has tested some of these by giving them riches, but with the
riches came the fiercer temptation, and their benevolence was far less
than in the days of their poverty. A grasping desire for greater riches
absorbed their minds and hearts, and they committed idolatry
A Pledge Made to God Is Binding and Sacred
Everyone is to be his own assessor and is left to give as he purposes
in his heart. But there are those who are guilty of the same sin as
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Ananias and Sapphira, thinking that if they withhold a portion of what
God claims in the tithing system the brethren will never know it. Thus
thought the guilty couple whose example is given us as a warning.
God in this case proves that He searches the heart. The motives and
purposes of man cannot be hidden from Him. He has left a perpetual
warning to Christians of all ages to beware of the sin to which the
hearts of men are continually inclined.
514
Testimonies for the Church 3:401-405