Living In The Light

May 15, A Test Of The Affections

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Matthew 6:21 LL 145.1

Money is not necessarily a curse; it is of high value, because, if rightly appropriated, it can do good in the salvation of souls, in blessing others who are poorer than ourselves. By an improvident or unwise use, as is evident in your case, money will become a snare to the user. He who employs money to gratify pride and ambition makes it a curse rather than a blessing. Money is a constant test of the affections. Whoever acquires more than sufficient for their real needs should seek wisdom and grace to know their own heart and to keep their heart diligently, lest he or she have imaginary wants and become an unfaithful steward, using with prodigality the Lord’s entrusted capital. When we love God supremely, temporal things will occupy their right place in our affections. If we humbly and earnestly seek for knowledge and ability in order to make a right use of our Lord’s goods, we shall receive wisdom from above. When the heart leans to its own preferences and inclinations, when the thought is cherished that money can confer happiness without the favor of God, then the money becomes a tyrant, ruling the person; it receives his or her confidence and esteem and is worshipped as a god. Honor, truth, righteousness, and justice are sacrificed upon its altar. The commands of God’s Word are set aside, and the world’s customs and usages, which King Mammon has ordained, become a controlling power. LL 145.2

In our use of money we can make it an agent of spiritual improvement by regarding it as a sacred trust, not to be employed to administer to pride, vanity, appetite, or passion. We should ever remember that in the Judgment we must meet the record of the way we use God’s money. Much is spent in self-pleasing, self-gratification, that does us no real good, but positive injury. If we realize that God is the giver of all good things, that the money is His, then we shall exercise wisdom in its expenditure, conforming to His holy will. The world, its customs, its fashions, will not be our standard. We shall not have a desire to conform to its practices; we shall not permit our own inclinations to control us.—Letter 8, 1889. LL 145.3

Further Reflection: How can you use your money in such a way that it can become “an agent of spiritual improvement”? LL 145.4