Daily Devotional

May 12, 2019

God’s Plan to Prevent Poverty

That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine…. And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. Leviticus 25:11-14, NKJV.

In God’s plan for Israel every family had a home on the land, with sufficient ground for tilling. Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self-supporting life. And no devising of human beings has ever improved upon that plan. To the world’s departure from it is owing, to a large degree, the poverty and wretchedness that exist today.

At the settlement of Israel in Canaan, the land was divided among the whole people, the Levites only, as ministers of the sanctuary, being excepted from the equal distribution. The tribes were numbered by families, and to each family, according to its numbers, was apportioned an inheritance.

And although some might for a time dispose of their possessions, they could not permanently barter away the inheritance of their children. When able to redeem their land, they were at liberty at any time to do so. Debts were remitted every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner.

“The land shall not be sold for ever” was the Lord’s direction: “for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. And if the man … himself be able to redeem it; … he may return unto his possession. But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee” (Leviticus 25:23-28)…. Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard was afforded against the extremes of either wealth or want. – The Ministry of Healing, 183-185.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 171.

Daily Devotional

May 11, 2019

The Golden Rule to Govern Business Dealings

What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8, NKJV.

The laws of the nations bear marks of the infirmities and passions of the unrenewed heart; but God’s laws bear the stamp of the divine, and if they are obeyed, they will lead to a tender regard for the rights and privileges of others…. His watchful care is over all the interests of His children, and He declares He will undertake the cause of the afflicted and the oppressed. If they cry unto Him, He says, “I will hear; for I am gracious.”

A man of means, if he possesses strict integrity, and loves and fears God, may be a benefactor to the poor. He can help them, and take no more interest [on the money he lends] than can be mercifully exacted. He thus meets with no loss himself, and his unfortunate neighbor is greatly benefited, for he is saved from the hands of the dishonest schemer. The principles of the golden rule are not to be lost sight of for a moment in any business transaction…. God never designed that one person should prey upon another. He jealously guards the rights of His children, and in the books of Heaven great loss is set down on the side of the unjust dealer.

In the Holy Scriptures fearful denunciations are pronounced against the sin of covetousness. “No … covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The psalmist says, “The wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.” Paul ranks covetous people with idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, none of whom shall inherit the kingdom of God. These are the fruits of a corrupt tree, and God is dishonored by them. We are not to make the customs and maxims of the world our criterion. Reforms must take place; all injustice must be put away.

We are commanded to “search the scriptures.” The whole Word of God is our rule of action. We are to carry out its principles in our daily lives; there is no surer mark of Christianity than this. We must carry out the great principles of justice and mercy in our relations with one another. We must be daily cultivating those qualities that will fit us for the society of heaven. If we do these things, God becomes our surety, and promises to bless all that we undertake; and we “shall never be moved.” – The Signs of the Times, February 7, 1884.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 170.

Daily Devotional

May 10, 2019

Character Tested by Presence of the Less Fortunate

When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 24:19, NKJV.

I saw that it is in the providence of God that widows and orphans, the blind, the deaf, the lame, and persons afflicted in a variety of ways, have been placed in close Christian relationship to His church; it is to prove His people and develop their true character. Angels of God are watching to see how we treat these persons who need our sympathy, love, and disinterested benevolence. This is God’s test of our character.

If we have the true religion of the Bible we shall feel that a debt of love, kindness, and interest is due to Christ in behalf of His children; and we can do no less than to show our gratitude for His immeasurable love to us while we were sinners unworthy of His grace, by having a deep interest and unselfish love for fellow believers who are less fortunate than ourselves.

The two great principles of the law of God are supreme love to God and unselfish love to our neighbor. The first four commandments and the last six hang upon, or grow out of, these two principles. Christ explained to the lawyer who his neighbor was in the illustration of the man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and who fell among thieves and was robbed and beaten and left half dead.

The priest and the Levite saw this man suffering, but their hearts did not respond to his wants. They avoided him by passing by on the other side. The Samaritan came that way, and when he saw the stranger’s need of help he did not question whether he was a relative or was of his country or creed; but he went to work to help the sufferer because there was work which needed to be done. He relieved him as best he could, put him upon his own beast, and carried him to an inn and made provision for his wants at his own expense.

This Samaritan, said Christ, was neighbor to him who fell among thieves. The Levite and the priest represent a class in the church who manifest an indifference to the very ones who need their sympathy and help. This class, notwithstanding their position in the church, are commandment breakers. The Samaritan represents a class who are true helpers with Christ and who are imitating His example in doing good. – Testimonies for the Church 3:511, 512.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 169.

Daily Devotional

May 9, 2019

Never Take Advantage of Another’s Misfortune

You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. Deuteronomy 24:17, NKJV.

God’s word sanctions no policy that will enrich one class by the oppression and suffering of another. In all our business transactions it teaches us to put ourselves in the place of those with whom we are dealing, to look not only on our own things, but also on the things of others. Those who would take advantage of another’s misfortunes in order to benefit themselves, or who seek to profit themselves through another’s weakness or incompetence, are transgressors both of the principles and of the precepts of the Word of God.

“Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge” (Deuteronomy 24:17). “When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge” (Verses 10-12). “If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: for that is his covering only …: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious” (Exodus 22:26, 27). “If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another” (Leviticus 25:14).

“Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity” (Leviticus 19:35, ARV). “Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small” (Deuteronomy 25:13, 14, ARV). “Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have” (Leviticus 19:36, ARV).

“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:42). “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth” (Psalm 37:21)….

The plan of life that God gave to Israel was intended as an object lesson for all humankind. If these principles were carried out today, what a different place this world would be! – The Ministry of Healing, 187, 188.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 168.

Daily Devotional

May 8, 2019

Imitate Jesus and His Ethics

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:4, 5, NKJV.

The ethics inculcated by the gospel acknowledge no standard but the perfection of God’s mind, God’s will. God requires from His creatures conformity to His will. Imperfection of character is sin, and sin is the transgression of the law. All righteous attributes of character dwell in God as a perfect, harmonious whole. All those who receive Christ as their personal Savior are privileged to possess these attributes. This is the science of holiness.

How glorious are the possibilities set before the fallen race! Through His Son, God has revealed the excellency to which human beings are capable of attaining. Through the merits of Christ, they are lifted from their depraved state, purified, and made more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir. It is possible for them to become companions of the angels in glory, and to reflect the image of Jesus Christ, shining even in the bright splendor of the eternal throne. It is their privilege to have faith that through the power of Christ they shall be made immortal. Yet how seldom they realize to what heights they could attain if they would allow God to direct their every step!

God permits every human being to exercise individuality. He desires no one to submerge his or her mind in the mind of a fellow mortal. Those who desire to be transformed in mind and character are not to look to others, but to the divine Example. .. .

As our Example we have One who is all and in all, the chiefest among ten thousand, One whose excellency is beyond comparison. He graciously adapted His life for universal imitation. United in Christ were wealth and poverty; majesty and abasement; unlimited power, and meekness and lowliness which in every soul who receives Him will be reflected. In Him, through the qualities and powers of the human mind, the wisdom of the greatest Teacher the world has ever known was revealed. – The Signs of the Times, September 3, 1902.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 167.