Living In The Light

October 22, No Excuses

But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”
—Luke 12:20 LL 311.1

God has made human beings His stewards, and He is not to be charged with the sufferings, the misery, the nakedness, and the want of humanity. The Lord has made ample provision for all. He has given to thousands of people large supplies with which to alleviate the want of their fellows; but those whom God has made stewards have not stood the test; for they have failed to relieve the suffering and the needy. When men and women who have been abundantly blessed of heaven with large wealth fail to carry out God’s design, and do not relieve the poor and the oppressed, the Lord is displeased and will surely visit them. They have no excuse for withholding from their neighbors the help that God has put it into their power to provide; and God is dishonored, His character is misinterpreted by Satan, and He is represented as a stern judge who causes suffering to come upon the creatures He has made. This misrepresentation of God’s character is made to appear as truth, and thus through the temptation of the enemy, people’s hearts are hardened against God. Satan charges upon God the very evil he himself has caused people to commit by withholding their means from the suffering. He attributes to God his own characteristics. LL 311.2

If men and women would do their duty as faithful stewards of their Lord’s goods, there would be no cry for bread, none suffering in destitution, none naked and in want. It is the unfaithfulness of human beings that brings about the state of suffering in which humanity is plunged. If those whom God has made stewards would but appropriate their Lord’s goods to the object for which He gave to them, this state of suffering would not exist. The Lord tests people by giving them an abundance of good things, just as He tested the rich man of the parable. If we prove ourselves unfaithful in the [unrighteous] mammon, who shall entrust to us the true riches? It will be those who have stood the test on the earth, who have been found faithful, who have obeyed the words of the Lord in being merciful, in using their means for the advancement of His kingdom that will hear from the lips of the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”— Review and Herald, June 26, 1894. LL 311.3

Further Reflection: : Is there a needy person in your community that you can help today? LL 311.4