Important Business by E. K. Slade

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 30, 1909

Important Business

By E. K. Slade

E. K. SLADE

I HAVE read the following paragraph many times, and with each reading the question of individual responsibility in connection with our work is emphasized in my mind:—

“When men of business, farmers, merchants, mechanics, lawyers, etc., become members of the church they become servants of Christ; and although their talents may be entirely different, their responsibility to advance the cause of God by personal effort, and with their means, is no less than that which rests upon the minister. The woe which will fall upon the minister if he preach not the gospel, will just as surely fall upon the business man if he, with his different talents, will not be a coworker with Christ in accomplishing the same results.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 469.

The force of this statement may be understood quite fully by the majority of our people, yet the conviction steals in upon us that there are a great many possessing marked ability to conduct a business successfully, and in a way to accumulate a considerable amount of wealth, who seem not to sense that the embracing of this message and uniting with this great movement calls for any change in their plans or policies regarding the use of their talents and the obligations that a connection with this message entails. The business of every man, as well as his business ability, becomes of far greater importance when he connects with this message. If all who are not directly engaged in the ministry or in missionary work were using their talents, their time, and their means as required by the true spirit of this movement, we are warranted in saying, I believe, that the large amount of money now provided by our people for financing the work would be more than doubled.

Words are dropped from time to time that lead some of our people to feel that it is very wrong to be absorbed to any considerable degree in a money-making enterprise. It is wrong to be overcharged with the cares of this world to the detriment of God’s cause and our spiritual interests, but it is equally wrong to be neglectful in the use of God-given ability to produce for the advancement of God’s kingdom in the earth. “The only means which God has ordained to advance his cause is to bless men with property. He has given them the sunshine and the rain; he causes vegetation to flourish; he gives health, and the ability to acquire means.” The burden of finishing the greatest work ever undertaken in heaven or earth calls for the co-operation of human beings in this way. There are thousands who should do business for the Lord more conscientiously and faithfully, with the full use of every talent, than is practised by men in their selfish pursuits.

If our individual responsibilities were fully comprehended and faithfully discharged in all the minor matters of life by all our people in the churches, how vastly different our financial situation would soon be. The missionaries who are in the field would be greatly encouraged and fully provided for, and the many who should be there could soon be sent to the front. If every church would work to the end of bringing about full and universal faithfulness in the honest and faithful use of every talent and every dollar for the advancement of the cause, a wonderful change would be seen in the progress of the work in the vast needy fields.

Holly, Mich.