Daily Reading for Monday, July 1, 2024
Scripture: Ephesians 4:28
"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
Meditation:
Reference(s):
1 Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 309.
2 The Judgment, pp. 16, 17.
3 Testimonies to Ministers, p. 146
"The eighth commandment . . . 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. It declares that every attempt to advantage oneself by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven."1
"It is not the magnitude of the transaction that makes it fair or unfair, honest or dishonest. It is the purpose of the heart begotten by covetousness and selfishness, which leads a man to overreach his neighbor in the smallest item."2
"Oh, fearful histories will be opened to the world at the judgment-histories of sins never confessed, of sins not blotted out! Oh, that these poor souls might see that they are heaping up wrath against the day of wrath! Then the thoughts of the heart, as well as the actions, will be revealed. I tell you, my brethren and sisters, there is need of humbling your souls before God. 'Cease to do evil,' but do not stop here; 'learn to do well.' (Isaiah 1:16, 17). You can glorify God only by bearing fruit to His glory."3