Basic HTML Version
Like Daniel, be Honest and Upright, September 14
The integrity of the upright shall guide them.
Proverbs 11:3
.
The case of Daniel, portrayed in a very limited manner by the prophetic pencil,
has a lesson for us. It reveals the fact that a businessman is not necessarily a sharp
policy man. He can be a man instructed of God at every step. Daniel while the
prime minister of the kingdom of Babylon, was a prophet of God, receiving the
light of heavenly inspiration....
Especially are businessmen needed, not irreligious businessmen, but those who
will weave the great, grand principles of truth into all their business transactions.
Men who have qualifications for the work need to have their talents exercised and
perfected by most thorough study and training. Not one businessman that has any
appointment in the work need to be a novice. If men in any line of work need to
improve their opportunities to become wise, efficient businessmen, it is those who
are using their ability in the work of building up the kingdom of God in our world.
The lessons for the present time are for all to understand, but they are very
feebly appreciated. There should be greater thoroughness in labor; and more
vigilant waiting, more vigilant watching and praying, and more vigilant working,
in prospect of the events now taking place, and which are swelling to large
importance as we near the close of this earth’s history. The human agent is to
reach for perfection, to be an ideal Christian, complete in Jesus Christ.
Those who labor in business lines should exercise every precaution against
error through wrong principles or methods. Their record may be like that of Daniel
in the courts of Babylon. In all his business transactions, when subjected to the
closest scrutiny, there was not found one item that was faulty. He was a sample of
what every business man may be. But the heart must be converted and consecrated.
The motives must be right with God. The inner lamp must be supplied with the
oil that flows from the true messengers of heaven through the golden tubes into
the golden bowl. Then the Lord’s communication never comes to man in vain.
God will not accept the most splendid services unless self is laid upon the
altar, a living, consuming sacrifice. The root must be holy, else there can be no
sound, healthful fruit, which alone is acceptable to God.... While worldly ambition
and worldly projects and the greatest plans and purposes of men shall fade like
the grass, “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and
they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”—
Special
Testimonies 9:65, 66
.
[272]
273