Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The Peril of Prosperity



"If riches increase, set not your heart upon them". Psalms 62:10


  "Among the greatest dangers  that threaten the church is the love of the world.  Out of this springs the sins of
selfishness and covetousness.  With many, the more they get of earthly treasure, the more they set their affections
on it, and still they reach out for more....

  Satan employs every means which he can devise to overthrow the followers of Christ.  With marvelous skill and
cunning he adapts his temptations to the peculiar temperament of each.  those who are naturally selfish and covetous
he often tempts by throwing prosperity in their way.  He knows that if they do not overcome their natural temperament,
the love of mammon will cause them to stumble and fall.  His object is often accomplished.  When the riches of the
world are offered them, many eagerly grasp the treasure, and think they are wonderfully prospered.  The strong love
of the world soon swallows up the love of the truth....

  If those who are thus prospered would lay all their possessions upon the altar of God, they might overcome their
selfish, covetous spirit, and so thwart the design of satan.  Worldly wealth may be made a blessing, if rightly used.
All who possess it should realize that it is lent them of God, to be employed in His service.  By giving freely to
advance the cause of truth and to relieve the wants of the needy, they may be the means of saving others, and thus
bring a blessing to their own souls here, and lay up in heaven a treasure that shall be theirs hereafter....

  Many hardly know, as yet, what self-denial is, or what it is to sacrifice for the truth's sake.  But none will
enter Heaven but by the same path of humiliation, self-sacrifice, and cross-bearing, that the Saviour trod.  Only
those who are willing to sacrifice all for eternal life will have it, but it will be worth suffering for, worth
crucifying self and sacrificing every idol for.  The far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory will outweigh
every earthly treasure and eclipse every earthly attraction."
 

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