What Is It For? by Stephen N. Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 19, 1883

What Is It For?

By Stephen N. Haskell

BY ELD. S. N. HASKELL.

It is evident that God has a higher object than man's selfish interests, in the blessings which he so richly bestows upon his creatures. He causes the sun to warm the ground where seed has been sown, and the dews to descend and moisten it, so that man may glorify him with the fruit which it brings forth. It is an exalted privilege to acknowledge God in the blessings which we receive. "Make to yourselves friends," says our Saviour, "of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they [the angels] may receive you into everlasting habitations." One tithe of a man's income belongs to God, and if he gives temporal prosperity it is not that the receiver should pull down his barns and build greater, but that the surplus may be distributed to the poor, and used to help forward the cause of our divine Lord and Master.

God has given us speech that we may praise him, and recommend him and his truth to our neighbors and friends. He has endowed us with a degree of intellect, so that we may in some way contribute to the advancement of his work upon the earth. "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all of my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" The prosperity was designed of God to contribute toward helping forward his work on the earth, and to give man an opportunity to co-operate with angels, and thus lay a good foundation against the time to come, and secure to himself eternal life.

There are times in every man's life when God opens before him opportunities for transferring his interests, both with respect to temporal and intellectual matters, to the other shore. The god of this world often so blinds the mind that the pearl of great price is unseen, and the opportunity offered is passed by. Persons will wait for wider and more extensive opportunities until their love for this world becomes so great that the heart's affections cannot entwine around heavenly things. It is then that the door will close, and they will be left to their own embarrassment and folly. The burden will be laid upon others—some, perhaps, who have learned in poverty how to sacrifice—and they will come to the front, bear responsibilities, and at last receive the crown which God so freely offered to those of greater ability, and under more favorable circumstances.

Where much is given much will be required. Our responsibility to God is in proportion to what he has committed to us. How deceitful is the human heart! When under certain circumstances we can love God seemingly with all the heart; but when prosperity comes, we forget him and cling to our earthly substance. God is moving upon men who will heed his voice. Bro. [name omitted] in the South, owning a farm of over seven hundred acres, valued at not less than twenty thousand dollars, embraced the Sabbath from reading our publications. Having never become acquainted with any of like faith with whom he could counsel, but having seen the names of our leading brethren in the Review, he decided that he would effect an organization in his own State, and make these men, whose names he had seen, trustees, and then deed his property to them. His object was to secure it to the cause, in case he died before he should make a final disposition of it himself. This was simply acting out his faith in the near coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had never heard a sermon on present truth, but was well informed on it from reading. There are many such men who will make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, and enter the kingdom before others to whom God has given great light and many privileges. Oh that men would be wise and consider their latter end. "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you," will be said to many who are rich in this world's goods, in a little from this. "Sell that ye have and give alms," are words addressed to those who are looking and watching for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.