There is a work for you both to do. Forever cease your murmurings. Brother G, suffer not the close, penurious, selfish spirit of your wife to control your actions. You have been drinking in the same spirit, and you have both robbed God. The plea of poverty is upon you lips, but Heaven knows it is false; yet your words will be all true; you will be poor indeed, if you continue to cherish the love of the world as you have done. “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse.” Malachi 3:8~9. Wipe off this curse as fast as possible. (2T 59.1) MC VC

Brother G, as God’s steward, look to Him. It is He to whom you are to give account of your stewardship, not to your wife. It is God’s means that you are handling. He has only lent it you a little while to prove you, to try you, to see if you will be “rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate,” laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may lay hold on eternal life. God will require His own with usury. May He help you to prepare for the judgment. Let self be crucified. Let the precious graces of the Spirit live in your hearts. Turn out the world with its corrupting lust. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15. If your profession is as high as heaven, and yet you are selfish and world-loving, you can have no part in the kingdom with the sanctified, the pure and holy. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 5:21; Luke 12:34. If your treasure is in heaven, your heart will be there. You will talk of heaven, eternal life, the immortal crown. If you lay up your treasure on earth, you will be talking of earthly things, worrying about losses and gains. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36~37. (2T 59.2) MC VC

The condition of poor Lazarus feeding upon the crumbs from the rich man’s table is preferable to that of these professors. If they possessed genuine faith, instead of increasing their treasures upon the earth they would be selling off, freeing themselves from the cumbersome things of earth and transferring their treasure before them to heaven. Then their interest and hearts will be there, for the heart of man will be where his greatest treasure is. Most of those who profess to believe the truth testify that that which they value the most is in this world. For this they have care, wearing anxiety, and labor. To preserve and add to their treasure is the study of their lives. They have transferred so little to heaven, have taken so little stock in the heavenly treasure, that their minds are not specially attracted to that better country. They have taken large stock in the enterprises of this earth, and these investments, like the magnet, draw down their minds from the heavenly and imperishable to the earthly and corruptible. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21. (2T 197.1) MC VC

Selfishness girds many about as with iron bands. It is “my farm,” “my goods,” “my trade,” “my merchandise.” Even the claims of common humanity are disregarded by them. Men and women professing to be waiting and loving the appearing of their Lord are shut up to self. The noble, the godlike, they have parted with. The love of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, have so fastened upon them that they are blinded. They are corrupted by the world and discern it not. They talk of love to God, but their fruits show not the love they express. They rob Him in tithes and offerings, and the withering curse of God is upon them. The truth has been illuminating their pathway on every side. God has wrought wonderfully in the salvation of souls in their own households, but where are their offerings, presented to Him in grateful thanks for all His tokens of mercy to them? Many of them are as unthankful as the brute creation. The sacrifice for man was infinite, beyond the comprehension of the strongest intellect, yet men who claim to be partakers of these heavenly benefits, which were brought to them at so great a cost, are too thoroughly selfish to make any real sacrifice for God. Their minds are upon the world, the world, the world. In the forty-ninth psalm we read: “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever).” Psalm 49:6-8. If all would bear in mind, and could in a small degree appreciate, the immense sacrifice made by Christ, they would feel rebuked for their fearfulness and their supreme selfishness. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Psalm 50:3. Because of selfishness and love of the world, God is forgotten, and many have barrenness of soul, and cry: “My leanness, my leanness.” Isaiah 24:16. The Lord has lent means to His people to prove them, to test the depth of their professed love for Him. Some would let go of Him and give up their heavenly treasure rather than to decrease their earthly possessions and make a covenant with Him by sacrifice. He calls for them to sacrifice; but the love of the world closes their ears, and they will not hear. (2T 197.2) MC VC

Christ has a right to your services. You have become His servant by grace. You are not to serve your own interest, but the interest of Him who has employed you. As a professed Christian you are under obligations to God. It is not your own property that is entrusted to you for investment. Had it been so, you might have consulted your own pleasure in regard to its use. The capital is the Lord’s, and you are responsible for its use or abuse. There are ways in which this capital can be so invested—put out to the exchangers—that it shall be earning the Lord something. If it is allowed to be buried in the earth, neither the Lord nor you will be benefited, and you will lose all that was entrusted to you. May God help you, my brother, to realize your true position as God’s hired servant. By His own suffering and death He has paid the wages to secure your willing service and ready obedience. (2T 244.1) MC VC

During the trials of the past few years, you have suffered in mind, and have felt it a relief to turn your attention more fully to the things of the world, to the work of acquiring property. God, in His great love and mercy to you, has again gathered you into His fold. New duties and responsibilities are now laid upon you. You have a strong love for this world. You have been laying up treasures upon the earth. Jesus now invites you to transfer your treasure to heaven; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. In all your deal with your brethren and with unbelievers, guard yourself. Be true to your profession, and maintain true nobleness of soul, which shall be a credit to the truth which you profess. (2T 244.2) MC VC

You occupy a position where others are looking to you. You possess more than ordinary intellect. You are a man of quick perceptions, and you feel deeply. Some of your brethren have not moved in wisdom. They have watched you, and have felt over your case, and have wished to see you more liberal with your means. They have made themselves unhappy over your case. All this is needless in them. These very ones lack in many things, and if they are faithful in the humble service the Master requires of them they will have all that they can do. They cannot afford to waste their time in anxiously fearing lest their neighbor, who has a larger work entrusted to him, shall fail to do his work well. While they are so interested in the case of another, their own work is neglected, and they are really slothful servants. They were anxious to do their neighbor’s work instead of that committed to themselves to do. (2T 244.3) MC VC