What principles can we take from the following texts regarding how we

should deal with money?

1 Tim. 6:17

2 Cor. 4:18

Prov. 30:8

Eccles. 5:10

Money can have a powerful hold on human beings, a hold that has

led to the ruin of many. Who has not heard of people who have done

terrible things because of money—even when they already had a lot of

it to begin with?

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. By God’s power, we can

overcome the enemy’s attempt to take what was meant to be a blessing

(material possessions) and turn them into a curse.

In the context of being a good steward in planning for death, one

danger that people face is the temptation to hoard assets now, justify-

ing that hoarding with the idea that, well, “When I die, I can give it all

away.” Though better than just spending it all now (one billionaire had

said that he knew that he would be living right only if the check for his

funeral bounced), we can and should do better than that.

“I saw that many withhold from the cause while they live, quieting

their consciences that they will be charitable at death; they hardly dare

exercise faith and trust in God to give anything while living. But this

deathbed charity is not what Christ requires of His followers; it cannot

excuse the selfishness of the living. Those who hold fast their property

till the last moment surrender it to death rather than to the cause. Losses

are occurring continually. Banks fail, and property is consumed in very

many ways. Many purpose to do something, but they delay the matter,

and Satan works to prevent the means from coming into the treasury

at all. It is lost before it is returned to God, and Satan exults that it is

so.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 154.

Why must we be very careful in how we justify our use of what-

ever material blessings we have?