Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17.
It is dangerous to give time, thought, and strength to the pursuit of worldly gain, even if success follows persevering effort, for in thus doing there is danger of making God and His righteousness secondary. It is better far to be in poverty, to endure disappointment and have our earthly hopes shattered, than to have our eternal interests imperiled. Flattering inducements may be presented to us, and we may think to obtain wealth and honor, and so set our heart and soul on worldly enterprises....
Money has become the measure of manhood in the world, and men are estimated, not by their integrity, but by the amount of wealth they possess. Thus it was in the days before the Flood....
Let us not be determined to get rich. If we see that poverty will be our portion in abiding in the simple truth, let us abide by the truth and enter into life. Jesus said that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” The devotees of the world may smile at this statement, but it is nevertheless the counsel of eternal wisdom.... Christians who are called into the world by their business, if they follow Christ, will bear their cross and meet their perplexities in the Spirit of Christ. They will not make the world their God, and give brain and bone and muscle to the service of mammon. They will realize that Heaven is looking upon them, and whatever success attends them, they will give glory to God. They will realize that God knows, as we do not, that a few more years will roll by and the treasures of earth be no more....
It is the vision of the world to come that balances the mind so that the things which are seen do not obtain control over the affections, which have been bought with an infinite price by the world's Redeemer. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit the things unseen and eternal are brought before the soul, and the advantages of the eternal, imperishable treasure are made to appear before the mind's eye in their attractive beauty. In this way we learn to look to the unseen and the eternal, and to esteem the reproaches of Christ greater value than the treasures of the world.—Signs of the Times, June 26, 1893.
From From the Heart - Page 157
From the Heart