With God at Dawn: Cast Thy Bread upon the Waters, October 6

Service for God and with God

Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1.

No one can live the law of God without ministering to others. But there are many who do not live out Christ’s merciful, unselfish life.... They plan and study to please themselves. They act only in reference to self. Time is of value to them only as they can gather for themselves. In all the affairs of life this is their object. Not for others but for themselves do they minister. God created them to live in a world where unselfish service must be performed. He designed them to help their fellow-men in every possible way. But self is so large that they cannot see anything else. They are not in touch with humanity. Those who thus live for self are like the fig-tree, which made every pretension, but was fruitless.... In the sentence pronounced on the fig-tree Christ demonstrates how fateful in His eyes is this vain pretense. He declares that the open sinner is less guilty than is he who professes to serve God, but who bears no fruit to His glory.—The Desire of Ages, 584.

“I am debtor,” Paul declares, “both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise.” So also are we. By all that has blessed our life above others, we are placed under obligation to every human being whom we might benefit.

These truths are not for the closet more than for the counting-room. The goods that we handle are not our own, and never can this fact safely be lost sight of. We are but stewards, and on the discharge of our obligation to God and man depend both the welfare of our fellow-beings and our own destiny for this life and for the life to come.—Education, 139.