Material wealth is fleeting, for the day is soon coming when the cry will be heard: “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more” (Revelation 18:10, 11).

Ultimately the scene will unfold: “The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity” (Ezekiel 7:12-19, emphasis supplied).

The Advent movement began in sacrifice and will close in sacrifice. When we read the early experiences of our pioneers, we can only be deeply impressed with their level of unselfish dedication to the cause of present truth. Are we following in their footsteps - or do we find ourselves caught up in the general habits of our day? Remember, sooner or later, even gold and silver will be valueless. Where are we placing our affections? Where are our priorities? The apostle bids us, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

At this point in history, we are living in a hedonistic, materialistic, self-indulgent society whose permeating influence has, to some extent, infected nearly all. Shopping is felt and savored as an entertaining sport, and buying on credit is considered the norm. Governmental leaders hope to restore the economic woes through desperate efforts to continue fostering the same cycle. Yet it is all a form of slavery, as the Bible makes it clear in Proverbs 22:7, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” This interesting verse immediately follows the well-known verse often quoted, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (verse 6). Christian parents, grandparents, and teachers seek to train the next generation, yet how many of us have given them much of a warning about the serious peril of debt?

While Ellen White was living in Australia in the 1890’s, the country faced a period of economic depression. We read about this experience in Manuscript Releases, vol. 12. Times were difficult. The Lord’s messenger describes a scenario similar to that of today - and provides clear advice as to the solution:

“Australia needs the leaven of sound, solid, common sense to be freely introduced into all her cities and towns. There is need of proper education. Schools should be established for the purpose of obtaining not only knowledge from books, but knowledge of practical industry. Men are needed in different communities to show the people how riches are to be obtained from the soil. The cultivations of land will bring its return.

“Through the observance of holidays the people both of the world and of the churches have been educated to believe that these lazy days are essential to health and happiness, but the results reveal that they are full of evil, which is ruining the health and the morals, and demoralizing the country. The youth generally are not educated to diligent habits. Cities and even country towns are becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, and like the world as it was in the days of Noah. The training of the youth in those days was after the same order as children are being educated and trained in this age, to love excitement, to glorify themselves, to follow the imagination of their own evil hearts. Now as then, depravity, cruelty, violence, and crime are the results. . . .

“The land boom has cursed this country. Extravagant prices have been paid for lands bought on credit; then the land must be cleared, and more money is hired. A house to be built calls for more money, and then interest with open mouth swallows up all the profits. Debts accumulate, and then come the closings and failures of banks, and the foreclosures of mortgages. Thousands have been turned out of employment; families lose their little all. They borrow and borrow, and then have to give up their property and come out penniless. Much money has been put into farms, bought on credit or inherited with an incumbrance. The occupants lived in hope of becoming real owners, and it might have been so, but for the failure of banks throughout the country. . . .

“Men take you to their orchards of oranges and lemons and other fruits, and tell you that the produce does not pay for the work done in them. It is next to impossible to make ends meet, and parents decide that children shall not be farmers. They have not the courage and hope to educate them to till the soil.

“What is needed are schools to educate and train the youth so that they will know how to overcome this condition of things. There must be education in the sciences, and education in plans and methods of working the soil. There is hope in the soil, but brain and heart and strength must be brought into the work of tilling it.”1

The above proposal may not sound easy or convenient. It depicts an undertaking that may not be so desirable to many of us who are baby boomers and members of Generations X, Y, and Z. Though we may not realize it, the vast majority of us are pitifully handicapped when it comes to agricultural matters. Yes, we may be quite a clever generation overall when it comes to electronic computing devices and such - and there’s nothing wrong with that. But how soon will the day come when putting so much mental and economic energy and faith in silicon chips (basically sand) may end up like the kind-of-building on sand to which Jesus famously referred? No one knows how soon, for sure. Meanwhile, real, literal soils are rapidly being depleted of minerals while garden pests are becoming increasingly more difficult to manage than ever before, “for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22). We need to wake up from our slumber and, as the above statement says, put some “brain and heart and strength” into following the counsel so graciously, mercifully given by the Lord’s messenger especially to help us make it through these last days. We need to keep the big picture in perspective and encourage ourselves to remember:

“A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:16-22, emphasis supplied).

When tempted to be preoccupied with worldly investments and self-centeredness,

“Christ calls upon everyone to consider. Make an honest reckoning. Put into one scale Jesus, which means eternal treasure, life, truth, heaven, and the joy of Christ in souls redeemed; put into the other every attraction the world can offer. Into one scale put the loss of your own soul, and the souls of those whom you might have been instrumental in saving; into the other, for yourself and for them, a life that measures with the life of God. Weigh for time and for eternity. While you are thus engaged, Christ speaks: ‘What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul’ (Mark 8:36)?

“God desires us to choose the heavenly in place of the earthly. He opens before us the possibilities of a heavenly investment. He would give encouragement to our loftiest aims, security to our choicest treasure. . . . When the riches that moth devours and rust corrupts shall be swept away, Christ’s followers can rejoice in their heavenly treasure, the riches that are imperishable.

“Better than all the friendship of the world is the friendship of Christ’s redeemed. Better than a title to the noblest palace on earth is a title to the mansions our Lord has gone to prepare. And better than all the words of earthly praise will be the Saviour’s words to His faithful servants, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Matthew 25:34).

“To those who have squandered His goods, Christ still gives opportunity to secure lasting riches. He says, ‘Give, and it shall be given unto you.’ ‘Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth’ (Luke 6:38; 12:33). ‘Charge them that are rich in this world, . . . that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life’ (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

“Then let your property go beforehand to heaven. Lay up your treasures beside the throne of God. Make sure your title to the unsearchable riches of Christ.”2

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

“The money that is locked up in worldly investments is no blessing, even to the one who claims to be its owner. The true owner of all our gifts is keeping a reckoning, estimating the good that might be done to suffering humanity if they were wisely used in the service of God, to build up His kingdom in the world. Money wisely invested in the enterprise of saving souls would yield a large return in the end. Not only would men have increased ability to gain wealth, but they would be laying up treasure in heaven.”3

“The wants of the cause are laid before us; the empty treasuries appeal to us most pathetically for help. One dollar now is of more value to the work than ten dollars will be at some future period.

“Work, brethren, work while you have the opportunity, while the day lasts. Work, for ‘the night cometh, when no man can work’ (John 9:4). How soon that night may come, it is impossible for you to tell. Now is your opportunity; improve it. If there are some who cannot give personal effort in missionary work, let them live economically and give of their earnings.”4

The Lord is eager to reap His final harvest of souls from the earth. Will we be part of the picture, as those whom He entrusts with the precious privilege of serving as His valued seed sowers and reapers? “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 50:3-5). Of what does this sacrifice consist? Every entrusted talent - including our time, effort, money, and undivided attention.

Fellow pilgrims, let us ever keep before our eyes the One who “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). The riches that Christ is offering us are the only ones that will truly endure. Let us strive for that incorruptible inheritance. “It is not money or lands or position, but the possession of a Christlike character, that will open to us the gates of Paradise.”5