SAD MISTAKES by Stephen N. Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 2, 1879

SAD MISTAKES.

By Stephen N. Haskell

To yield to the gratification of carnal desires, and thus compromise divine blessings, is a great mistake, although otherwise life may be embittered by the self-denial. Esau had an experience of this kind. He well knew that the blessings and privileges of the birthright were from Heaven; but this fact was overlooked in his desire for food.

“And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage: for I am faint. . . . And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me. And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.” This was a deliberate surrender of God’s blessing for the gratification of appetite. At a time when he was hungry and faint, for one morsel of meat he sold his birthright. “Afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Gen. 25: 29-34; Heb. 12: 16, 17. All for one morsel of meat! How insignificant it must have looked to him when it was all over. But his mistake was fatal.

It is a mistake to indulge in sin of any kind, thinking that we can recover ourselves from it when we please. Solomon tried to do this. He said in his heart, “Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure.” He gave himself unto wine and to lay hold on folly, and whatsoever his eyes desired he kept not from them. He yielded to his friends and worshiped other gods. He voluntarily went upon forbidden ground, thinking that he was able to recover himself. He deeply repented of this course at the close of his life. A dark cloud hung over him, and he found himself in the meshes of the net in which Satan had ensnared him. His life ended in bitterness and sorrow. The Lord had appeared to him twice, but he sinned and displeased God, and brought trouble, distress, and the frown of God upon himself. There are many who are following in the steps of Esau and Solomon. The Judgment will reveal the awful nature of the mistake they are making.

It is a mistake to bury our talents in the earth by devoting them to worldly pursuits, especially at this time when the cause is languishing for the assistance we may render it. This is the

time in which to labor, to devote our energies to the carrying forward of God’s work. There are many who have means which, with a little effort, might be placed where it would aid in carrying the truth to thousands, and the persons themselves would not be deprived of a single comfort thereby. It would add stars to their crowns in glory. But many reason that they have already done something, and that if others would do as much as they, it would be sufficient. They are making a sad mistake. “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”

Christ has purchased a home in glory for man; and that he may prove himself worthy of it, he has lent him talents. If he devotes these talents to the glory of God, he thereby makes friends with angels, and secures to himself the true riches; if not, he makes a mistake the magnitude of which he will realize when he hears the awful words, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.”

Many possess the ability to teach the truth, and to advance the cause by their influence in different ways, but mistake in being anxious to first make provision for themselves and families. Our Saviour says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

It is a serious mistake to withhold our means from the cause of God while we live, with the idea of giving it to the Lord when we die. Past experience shows that in nine-tenths of such cases the cause never gets it. If an effort is made to secure it, it is lost in litigation. Such matters can be arranged while the person is in health, and thus all this trouble be prevented. Those who do not follow this course will find that they have been unwise. This is more especially true of the aged, who are tottering on the brink of the grave. “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they [the angels] may receive you into everlasting habitations.” To fail to do this, and yet dream of Heaven, is like beholding a mirage in the desert, which will prove a fatal delusion.

S. N. HASKELL.