Sabbath Afternoon - February 18
Memory Text:
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” KJV — Colossians 3:23, 24
“Indolent, careless habits indulged in secular work will be brought into the religious life and will unfit one to do any efficient service for God. Many who through diligent labor might have been a blessing to the world, have been ruined through idleness. Lack of employment and of steadfast purpose opens the door to a thousand temptations. Evil companions and vicious habits deprave mind and soul, and the result is ruin for this life and for the life to come. COL 345.5
“Whatever the line of work in which we engage, the word of God teaches us to be “not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,” “knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.” Romans 12:11; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Colossians 3:24.” COL 346.1
Sunday - February 19
First Things First
Read Ecclesiastes 12:1. What’s the message there for us?
I was referred to the many precious promises on record for those who seek their Saviour early. Ecclesiastes 12:1: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” Proverbs 8:17: “I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.” The great Shepherd of Israel is still saying, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Teach your children that youth is the best time to seek the Lord. 1T 396.2
Prov. 22:3, 6, 10, 15 – A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.… Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.… Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.… Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Wise parents look ahead. They are careful to insure their children’s future. This they do by instilling in their children Heaven-born principles upon which the children can successfully build their life’s career, for upon whatsoever foundation the parents start them building, that is the only one they can ever build on. A poor foundation will forever keep them back from anything superior to what the foundation itself will permit, be it in the line of religion or a trade.
Parents should be aware that when the children reach their teens, they become more or less independent, responsible to themselves. They dance, so to speak, according to their own music. How important, then, that they beforehand possess the knowledge essential to carry them safely through those teen years.
To begin with, they should religiously be taught good morals, the value of time, how to obtain results in a given amount of time. They should be fully warned of the baleful results of wasted minutes. Indeed, they should be led to realize that the aggregate minutes and hours put to good use and the knowledge gained during their teens will shape their entire lives. They should know that the moments of the teen years are the most important moments in their whole lives, and that once wasted, they are forever gone. The children most certainly need to know these things before they enter their teens.
These fundamental principles are even more realistically seen when one takes into consideration that habits are altogether too easy to form, but practically impossible to eradicate. This is why children are what their parents made them
Moreover, boys and girls in their teens have greater energy than at any time thereafter, and they can therefore accomplish more during those years than they can later in an equal length of time in the same field of endeavor and experience.
There is no doubt that the teen age of any child is the most critical, too. As I said before, parents should not wait until the crisis arrives, but should long before start to head it off. To do this, the parents must early in the child’s life, determine what the child’s natural aptitude is, so that they can have him on time decide what his trade or profession is to be. They should have him set his goal, and then create in him a zeal to reach it. Those who have no goal have nothing to work toward. They are floating as a raft in the ocean, and their goings are as aimless as that of a butterfly. Children that have a goal to strive toward, and who incessantly keep at it, are getting there, and they are bound to turn the time of mischief into profit.
Children should also be taught the value of the dollar. Rather than be allowed to get into the habit of spending every penny they get hold of, they should be educated to save as much as possible. Once they have had a taste of starting a savings account, even though it be less than a dollar to start with, they will anxiously continue. In this way, saving will become to them an exciting habit. Children who are not taught to earn and to save, and yet finally make something of themselves do not do it because of their parents, but in spite of them.
There are thousands of people, some in every community, who have no idea how to handle money or how to manage a home. These unfortunates, regardless how much they make, never have anything for a rainy day. They are always poor and always in debt, always expecting charity from somewhere.
Read Genesis 29:9–20. What is important about the timing of this event in the life of Jacob?
To start with in Padan-Aram, Jacob had nothing but faith and zeal. He was only a good workman, that is all. These qualities Laban immediately recognized in Jacob, and as a result Laban not only offered to give Jacob his daughter Rachel for a wife, but even devised a scheme by which to force him to take both daughters – Rachel and Leah – the only girls in the family! Moreover, although Jacob dearly paid for them with fourteen solid years of hard faithful labor, he in the next six years became rich! Then on returning home, he whole heartedly, honestly, and with free conscience said to Laban:
“This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.” Gen. 31:38.
Still further, when he was asked what he wanted for his work after the fourteen years were over, he chose the wages God would pay, not Laban. For he said to Laban:
Thou shalt not give me anything, but let me pass through all thy flock today, and remove from thence all the speckled, spotted, and brown cattle, sheep and goats, and take them three days journey apart from the rest so that there be no chance for them getting mixed. To date, all the sheep and cattle, speckled or unspeckled are to be yours, but hereafter all the speckled that shall be born from among the unspeckled (the apparently impossible) shall be mine for serving thee!
Laban was well pleased with the contract and Jacob went to work. God blessed Jacob’s labors in spite of natural impossibility, and within six years he became rich! Why? – Because Jacob served God wholeheartedly, and implicitly trusted in Him for his living. He wanted nothing but what God would let him have. He knew that so long as he worked for the Lord, the Lord would leave him neither hungry nor naked. He knew that if God so clothed the grass of the field, He would clothe and feed him in His vineyard.
Monday - February 20
The Blessing of Work (Ideally)
Read Genesis 2:15 (see also Eccles. 9:10 and 2 Thess. 3:8–10). What is the significance of the fact that, even before the entrance of sin, Adam (and certainly Eve, too) was given work? How might this explain why, as stated above, those who never had to work found their situation to be a curse?
Because work is essential and because sinners by nature dislike work, the thorns and thistles were created to compel them to go to work for a living. If we leave the obnoxious weeds in the ground, and spend our time having fun, they will choke out the crops, and we, like the prodigal, will have famine. Thus, no work, no eat. God Who knows what is best for us has made it that we earn our living the hard way, to work all day long with but little rest.
Those who come to themselves, to them work is pleasure. Only fools hate work.
The Lord commanded that we should with sweat earn our living, but He knew that most of us would not do so if we did not have to. And He also knew that if we did not have much to do, we would get into mischief, into riotous living, and consequently never come to ourselves, and never go back to Eden. He therefore cursed the ground for our good.
Moreover, to the woman who sits down and does but little to keep up her home, God brings the bed bugs and roaches, the mice and the rats, the flies and the ants, the lice and the fleas, and the mosquitoes, too. These will put her to working inside and out if anything will.
Were it not for the pests, what would man be! God, you see, made all these things for a good purpose but in spite of the pests’ urging sluggers to get up and start moving, still some prefer to live as pigs! Why wait until He sends His great army of pests? Why not take His counsel, keep busy, and do what you can to make others happy, to make the world better than it is, to let it know that you are in it to do it good, not to be burden upon it? Then the angels will delight to encamp round about you, and the Lord Himself will come and sup with you.
If we make God’s business our business, His kingdom our home, then all the other things which we are striving for and worrying about will be supplied to us in great abundance. Let us, then, no longer be Christians outwardly and Gentiles at heart, but rather let us be without “guile in our mouths” and with “palms in our hands.”
Eccles. 4:5 – “The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.”
The fool folds his hands together; he despises work. He eats his own flesh: Rather than work, he will even stay hungry, causing his stomach to draw on his reserve fat, and thus be becomes steadily thinner. Who wants to be a fool?
Eccles. 10:18 – “By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.”
The slothful man’s house decays, his house rots before he even has it finished, or before he has it repaired. He is late in everything – a bad habit for one to get into. When you drive out into the country, along the roadside you will notice that the houses which are badly run down and unkempt, are the houses of those whom you see on the porches rocking away time when they should be working. But you will hardly see anyone sitting idle around the houses that are well cared for. If you see people at all, you will see them doing something. What are you doing, Brother, Sister? – Do you know the way back to Eden? Let us again turn to Ecclesiastes.
Prov. 6:6 – “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”
The man, a student; the little ant a teacher! What a humiliating statement against the idler!
Verses 7, 8 – “Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”
The ant knows what to do and when to do it and does it. It never fails to make a living though it has no boss. Were you to go down into its house, you would find provisions for more than the season requires. It knows when harvest comes, and knows how to make the most of it. If a man fails to do as the ant, if he fails to take notice of the time and of the season, then his miseries shall certainly increase.
Had this counsel come from men, we would perhaps not need it; but it came from God, from Him Who has control of everything. He knows your life from the time you are born to the time you die. He knows what kind of life you are to go through. You may cause yourself to have to go the prodigal’s way, but how much better if you do not. The best for you is to go the Father’s way.
Ever remember that there are only two master minds in the world – the mind of God and the mind of Satan. We, as sinners, are born with the mind of Satan, and it stays with us until we are born again, born of the Spirit and with the mind of God. To do right, then, we must do the opposite of what our natural minds tell us, and we shall then be doing what the mind of God is striving to make us do.
Tuesday - February 21
The Earning Years
Read 1 Timothy 5:8; Proverbs 14:23; and Colossians 3:23, 24. What important points can we take away from these texts about finances in the home?
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” AH 391.2
“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” AH 391.3
“The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.” AH 391.4
“The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” ... AH 391.5
How many a man might have escaped financial failure and ruin by heeding the warnings so often repeated and emphasized in the Scriptures: AH 391.6
“He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.” AH 391.7
“Wealth gotten in haste shall be diminished; but he that gathereth by labor shall have increase.” AH 391.8
“The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.” AH 391.9
“The borrower is servant to the lender.” AH 391.10
“He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.”1 AH 391.11
The eighth commandment condemns ... theft and robbery. It demands strict integrity in the minutest details of the affairs of life. It forbids overreaching in trade and requires the payment of just debts or wages.”2 AH 392.1
"But I would have you know," declares Paul, "that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven." "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God." 1 Cor. 11:3-5, 11, 12.
This beautiful home-relationship is often undermined and wrecked by financial mismanagement or by erroneous education, or by both, because the divine pattern is not followed. The Lord supports His wife, the church, but she herself handles the medium of exchange, the money, to pay for the things she purchases; accordingly therefore, though the husband supports the home, the wife is to handle the money for the things needed to run the home. And if the husband is receiving only a subsistence income, then even more especially should he give his paycheck to the wife, so that she may budget it to cover the home's necessities up to the next pay day. With the wife handling the money, great advantages will thus accrue, for, it is she alone who uses, and therefore alone knows, the things which are needed in the home. Thus knowing her daily financial limitations, she will know precisely what she can and what she cannot buy to run the home.
Naturally, then, she will diligently see that only the most necessary wants of the home are first cared for, thereby preventing any over-buying of one thing on her part, or any under-buying or another thing by her husband, or vice versa--this latter condition inevitably resulting if he holds the purse strings and doles out to her to do the buying. Handled as it should be, the purse will not go flat, and the home will suffer no shortages, no contentions, and no break-ups. Of course, husband and wife should always consult together to secure full mutual approval for whatever they do.
If, however, the family's earnings are more than just a living, then he and the wife may together more broadly budget their earnings, first caring for necessary current expenses, then banking or investing the rest.
Thus to understand that the husband is not merely the money bag, but is the king of the home, the "house-band," and that the wife is not a menial merely to cook the meals, wash the dishes and clothes, scrub the floor, and care for and rear the children, but is the queen of the home, the helpmeet,--to understand all this is to have a true appreciation of the wholesomeness of divinely inspired marriage.
"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters, have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." Prov. 31:10-30.
So while the queenly wife looks after the family's internal affairs, the kingly husband looks after the family's external affairs.
Wednesday - February 22
Working With Intergrity
Gen. 30:27 -- "And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake."
This is the kind of recommendation the Christian should cause to be said of his religion by those for whom he works. Such a recommendation comes only by putting practical religion and thought into your everyday living and working habits, and by producing more than you consume...
Read Genesis 39:2–5. Although the texts do not specifically tell us, what do you imagine Joseph had been doing that caused his master to look so favorably upon him?
“And his master saw that the Lord was with him.... And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. Genesis 39:3, 4. CTr 94.1
“God can make the humblest followers of Christ more precious than fine gold, even than the golden wedge of Ophir, if they yield themselves to His transforming hand. They should be determined to make the noblest use of every faculty and opportunity. The Word of God should be their study and their guide in deciding what is the highest and best in all cases. The one faultless character, the perfect Pattern set before them in the gospel, should be studied with deepest interest. The one lesson essential to learn is that goodness alone is true greatness....” CTr 94.2
The troubles which came to Joseph in his life were actually for his good and prepared him to become an interpreter of dreams, a king, and doubtless the greatest economist the world has ever seen. God had observed that Joseph did everything as if it were his very own, and, moreover, he was constantly sensible to the fact that God was his Master and that nothing could be hidden from Him. It was this conviction that caused Joseph to understand that regardless what men did to him or said about him, God alone had charge of his life. Therefore, in prosperity and fame Joseph maintained his loyalty and integrity; and in adversity Joseph did not waste his time ascribing to others the cause of his troubles. Instead, he set about to behave in a way that would commend himself even to royalty, for it is not likely that the Ishmaelites would have been able to sell him to Potiphar had he not been a superior person.
"And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.... And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured." Gen. 39:2-4, 6. But again it was his lot to suffer reversals over which he had no control, and he landed in prison where his excellent personality and faithfulness once again won him his freedom, and, moreover, he was promoted to the highest position of the land.
In the meantime Joseph's brothers kept coming down until finally they were reduced to such poverty that they had to leave their country and come to Joseph for their food and living. We should be able to see in this that although God's people may be disgracefully dealt with by jealous associates, still they will not suffer the wrong forever if God is with them. Joseph followed righteousness and no man could prevent God from blessing him with riches and honor. It matters not what men may say or do against you to put you down, if you have God with you you will in the end be on top and they at the bottom. Jealousy may be as cruel as the grave, but sooner or later righteousness is rewarded.
How important it is that God's people have their minds constantly employed in serving Him perfectly in everything!
We can indeed make ourselves the poorest of the poor by concerning ourselves wholly with our own needs and wants instead of working toward the goal of producing all we can for the benefit of others. Doing for others is what brings success and alone makes one in demand.
Thursday - February 23
Seeking Godly Counsel
Read Proverbs 3:5–8. How do we apply this principle in our basic financial matters?
“If those who propose to work for the salvation of souls depend on their own finite wisdom, they will certainly fail. If they entertain humble views of self, and rely fully upon the promises of God, He will never fail them. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” [Proverbs 3:5, 6] We have the privilege of being directed by a wise Counselor. GW 79.2
“God can make humble men mighty in His service. Those who obediently respond to the call of duty, improving their abilities to the very utmost, may be sure of receiving divine assistance. Angels will come as messengers of light to the help of those who will do all that they can on their part, and then trust in God to co-operate with their efforts.” GW 79.3
What is one to do now when money was never so easily earned, but when prices are sky-high? Is he thus to spend everything he makes, or is he to deprive himself of such extravagance and save all he can? And where shall he deposit his earnings?
Answer:---From past experience, the wise have learned the inexorableness of life's law of inflation and depression. They know that the abnormal amount of money In circulation swells the demand for goods beyond what the market can supply, and thus sends prices sky-rocketing. They recognize in this a warning signal of impending financial disaster.
The prudent also know that the wild orgy of spending everything they make must sooner or later end in an upheaval of privations, sorrows and regrets,--the shattering of many homes. So the wise take steps beforehand to insure themselves against the inevitable day of economic eruption. In time of price inflation they will sternly deny the mania for making more luxurious their present standard of living. And in this time of stepped-up money circulation they will lay by, save rather than spend. They will not fall into that careless attitude befitting only the lowest forms of animal life,--of "feast today and famine tomorrow"; nor will they join with them who say, "let us eat, drink and be merry [spend our money as fast as we make it] for tomorrow we die."
Anyone now boarding the pleasure-boat on its gay excursion down the stream of least resistance, is sure to be sucked into an inextricable maelstrom of financial mismanagement. Too late, he will find himself a victim of his arrant improvidence--rank presumption. The mental likeness of such a one may be compared only to that of a senseless leech--that stupid little water creature which listlessly starves itself when there is nothing convenient for it to fasten to, and then kills itself from over-eating when something finally comes its way. This form of prodigality is of the worst kind because for such there is no "father's house" to return to.
If the experiential criterion that history repeats itself is to be acknowledged, then out of this war must come a transition period with its inevitable depression. A dollar now is easily earned; and a dollar saved now may be worth two or three dollars after the war, when money may become even scarcer than it has ever been. So now is the time to spend as little as possible and to lay aside as much as possible. Now is the time of plenty in which to reap a harvest and to store it for the time of need that lies ahead--not to consume it on "whatsoever the soul lusteth after."
Beyond whatever necessary expenditures and increasing deductions one may have--Income Tax, Victory Tax, War Bonds, Social Security, tithes and offerings--every wise wage-earner will every week put aside a certain amount in savings, no matter how small, and tenaciously determine to allow nothing to divert him from this plan, and nothing to diminish this fund. This, however, one will find very hard to do, owing to temptations of spending, and to clever business men who have spent a lifetime studying how to exploit the other fellow's savings. The Association has therefore prepared special Bequeathment Certificates which will assure the holder a nest-egg for a "rainy day," or insure him against financial disaster in the days of old age.
The busy bee stores and saves its honey during the summer months. Then when winter comes, she has not only enough to carry her through the hard spell but also even some to spare for her keeper. Present-truth believers should not be less wise than a little insignificant bee! Let the Bequeathment Certificate be your reminder that where the moths cannot enter and where the thieves cannot break through, is the safest place to deposit your treasure. And a little of such foresight now will make it immeasurably easier on the Father's house when the strenuous times come, because you can then draw on your own reserve fund on your Certificate. It may be impossible then for the Association to serve all the unfortunate ones; and those who make no provision in this little time of seeming prosperity, may feel embarrassed then. Of course, none but those who hold a Certificate of Fellowship can invest in the Bequeathment Certificate--share in this divinely dedicated savings system and consecrated social security.
Friday - February 24
Further Study
Gen. 31:13 – “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto Me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.”
From this record, you see, Jacob was faithful at his post of duty, and always mindful of God’s command. Are we like Jacob? or are we like Judas Iscariot? Jacob, now you know, took perfect care of Laban’s business, and followed God’s direction all the way. But Judas Iscariot took perfect care of his own selfish interest at the expense of God’s Gift, and rather than following the Lord’s directions, he followed his own. Now, though, compare Jacob’s end with that of Judas’. One’s work ended in glory and the other’s work ended in shame and disaster.
For whom are you working, Brother, Sister? for yourselves or for God? – You say, “For God,” and I hope you are right, but remember, as I said before, that no business firm will promote a workman that is not interested at least as much in the prosperity of his firm as he is in the size of his wages. Moreover, no firm is interested in the workman’s private business. It is interested in its own business. God’s business, though, is far more important, and of far greater consequence than the business of any man. He, too, is not at all interested in your selfish business, He is interested in His business of saving souls. You cannot, therefore, make your own interests of first importance and His of second, and at the same time expect to reap His promises, and expect Him to answer your prayers. If such be the case, then you are even falsely calling yourself a Christian. According to Matthew 6:32, you are still a deluded Gentile.