I WANT TO BE RICH by S. E. Lindsley

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 29, 1868

I WANT TO BE RICH.

By S. E. Lindsley

I was meditating a few days ago upon the testimony of the faithful and true Witness to the Laodicean church, and their sad situation therein described, “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” A realizing sense of my poverty and wretchedness came over me, and with it an earnest desire from the depths of my heart which I expressed aloud, “Oh! I want to be rich.” Not in the wealth of earth which so many all around me are in pursuit of; not in the perishable gold and silver which shall soon be cankered; nor in the gay apparel of worldlings. No; it is not in these that I would be rich. These are the “uncertain riches” in which we are charged not to trust. But rich in faith, in good works, in possessing the “gold tried in the fire,” and the “white raiment” with which to be clothed. Oh! that I might be rich toward God. And can the cravings of my poor heart be satisfied? Oh! for a broken heart and a contrite spirit which the Lord will not despise. The stains of sin are upon my garments, and probation’s hours are nearly closed. Oh! then, let me haste to secure imperishable riches.

My soul is amazed at the love, mercy, and long-suffering, of God toward poor, sinful mortals. And for them all methinks I especially owe a debt of love and gratitude to him because of his goodness and care for me, the unworthiest of his creatures. He hath wrought deliverances for me in past afflictions, and hath disposed the hearts of many to favor and to care for me from my childhood up, far more than I have deserved or could expect.

But for all this love and care what have I rendered in return? Have I, with unselfish spirit, striven to imitate my Saviour in doing good to all with whom I associate? What are my “works” by which I shall soon be judged? Alas! my poverty. How few good works, if indeed any at all, have I ever done. How often have I failed in setting such an example before my worldly friends as would win them to Christ, and failed of giving to the Lord and his cause according to the little which I have had, that I might lay up a good treasure against the day of necessity. See Apocrypha, Tobit iv, 8. But yet a little time remains in which to redeem the past. With the assisting grace of God I will strive to take earnest heed to the admonitions and warnings which God in mercy hath given us. Let us no longer fear to be reproached for the sake of Christ, but, like one of old, esteem it “greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.”

S. E. LINDSLEY.