Faithfulness in Temporal Riches
God designs to trust men with eternal riches—the riches of the eternal inheritance prepared for the overcomer. But before God puts any man in possession of eternal riches, He must know what use the man will make of riches. And this is revealed in every man's life here in this world. He who uses the goods—whether much or little—intrusted to him here, in such a way as to recognize God as the Creator, and that all things are from Him and belong to Him, so that God is all in all, will make the same use of the eternal riches, and can safely be intrusted with them. He will never jeopardize the interests of God's kingdom by attempting, as Satan did, to become independent of God. But he who, on the other hand, refuses to recognize all things here as coming from and belonging to the Creator, by withholding the tithe which God demands, or the offerings for which God calls, would as certainly, without a change of heart, refuse to recognize God's sovereignty in the world to come, and the universe would again be marred by disobedience. By our use of that with which God intrusts us here, we are settling the question whether or not God can place in our hands the eternal riches.