How Our Property May Be Made a Help in Our Salvation
By George I. Butler
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves purses [R. V., Amer. Standard] which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights be burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Luke 12: 32-36. This language unmistakably applies to the last days, to those giving the divine message which closes human probation. God’s people will then be a “little flock” compared with the great mass of religious professors of various sects, or of the world as a whole. One hundred and forty-four thousand will comprise the number of the sealed ones. The words quoted above can not apply to the true believers living before the time of the end; for they can not be said to be waiting “for their lord, when he will return from the wedding.” What is it to wait?—“To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary till the arrival of some person or event; to rest in patience; to stay; not to depart.”—Webster. Expectancy of a person or an event is the leading thought of waiting till the return from the wedding. None can be doing this until the last generation of Christians, who will be looking for the Lord. The wedding is the eternal union between the Son of God and the bride the Lamb’s wife. This event takes place just before he comes to take his people up to the city of God. This experience of “the little flock” is different from that of all other Christian believers. Their place in probationary time is different from that of all others. They are to be alive when the Lord comes. They are waiting, watching, expecting the Master’s return. They have the right to be thus in expectancy, because they believe the prophecies which foretell his coming near. They are counseled, “Fear not.” They are to believe God will keep his word. They are warned to have their “treasure” laid up in heaven, where they are to go to enjoy it. As sensible men, when moving to a distant country, get their property converted into drafts, that they may safely carry its equivalent with them, so “the little flock” are to send their property on before them to be accessible to them when they move from this world to a better world where the curse has never come. How are they to do this? They are to “sell” their property and do good with it, thus putting it in purses which will never grow old or decay. It will be laid up eternally in the heavens above. The little flock are carefully warned against laying up their treasure in this world. They are told plainly, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” One’s treasure is something very highly valued. In short, it is a thing that one loves more than anything else. If we love this world more than heaven, then we shall be burned up with the world in the last day. What is the matter with most professed Christians? They seem to think they can love this world as much as they please, and then go to another and better world. But the Scriptures say, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2: 15-17. Every soul is deciding his eternal destiny day by day. The present life is a probation. As we use this life, so will our future life be. If we labor merely for the present world, we shall share its doom. If we use our means in the Master’s cause, we are thus transferring our treasure to the world to come. We are demonstrating before the world and all the heavenly intelligences where our true interest is. Again: if we send on our means beforehand and lay up our treasure in the bank of heaven, we are placing it where it will be continually drawing us heavenward. When worldly men place their money in earthly banks, with what intense interest do they watch to see whether that bank is sound or not. If there is a raid made on that bank, how anxiously do they rush to get their money out. If they have it in some strong bank in New York City, they are little moved at the calamities of some near-by country bank. Their money is safe. So with the devoted Christian whose money is laid up in the bank of heaven. Such are waiting for the Lord to come to take them to the better world, where their treasure is stored up. They are continually drawn heavenward. It is a wonderful blessing to our people to have the needs of God’s cause brought forcibly to their minds, as in the $150,000 fund. Such occasions offer us opportunities to know the real condition of our hearts. Do we love the cause of God more than the riches of this world? If we do, we shall surely sell our property, if necessary, and put it into the needy cause of God. Let Seventh-day Adventists beware of having a great amount of property burned up by the fires of the last day. Where our treasure is, there our hearts are; and where our hearts are, we shall surely go. As an aged fellow laborer in this most blessed of all causes, I entreat you, my brethren and sisters, to embrace this opportunity of transferring your earthly treasure to the bank of heaven. That will be a constant drawing power, a moral force, a blessed helper to save you at last. The cause of God greatly needs your help just now. You need the opportunity to give that help. It is a matter of the greatest importance that we transfer our affections and our means to the bank of heaven. That will never fail. It is the only safe course.