Sabbath: I See, I Want, I take
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Read for This Week’s Study: 2 Cor. 8:1-7; Matt. 13:3-7; Matt. 13:22; Gen. 3:1-6; Isa. 56:11; Matt. 26:14-16; 2 Pet. 1:5-9.
Memory Text: “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22, NKJV).
The love of money and material possessions can come at us from many different angles. Ellen G. White describes the devil’s ploy to lure us through the wiles of materialism. “Go, make the possessors of lands and money drunk with the cares of this life. Present the world before them in its most attractive light, that they may lay up their treasure here, and fix their affections upon earthly things. We must do our utmost to prevent those who labor in God’s cause from obtaining means to use against us. Keep the money in our own ranks. The more means they obtain, the more they will injure our kingdom by taking from us our subjects. Make them care more for money than the upbuilding of Christ’s kingdom and the spread of the truths we hate, and we need not fear their influence; for we know that every selfish, covetous person will fall under our power, and will finally be separated from God’s people.” – Counsels on Stewardship, pp. 154, 155.
This ploy, unfortunately, seems to be working well. Let us then look at these dangers and what the Word of God says to us so that we can avoid this spiritual trap.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 13.
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We are God's chosen people and He will not withhold anything good from His children (Ps 84:11). Therefore we belong to Him and should fight not to be overwhelmed by the want of worldly possessions, that we forget who we are and whose we are.
when Gods children don't pay their tithes that will help build Gods kingdom and His mission for the lost souls,the enemy is actually (indirectly) built up. Keeps Gods will from being done.
Nobody can claim that he/she is immune to the devil's allurements on this point. Let us be praying to be kept by the power of God and allow the words of God to be more and more in us.
Is is a sin to be rich and own possessions in life.
No, the sin is where you don't use your situation to point others to Christ.
Simba, the love of money is the root of all evil, not the "possession" thereof...
This Sabbath our class had a very good discussion and pointed out that the entire quarterly is not just about money. We gathered that "Materialism" and its influence is a whole program with many arms crafted by the devil. Money can also make a person want stature, popularity, positions, recognition and other rabbit holes that we can get sucked into. And with all the advertising in the world, I had to end the class with one important question, "With the billion of dollars spent on advertising to reach us from every direction possible, how as a church do we keep our kids from the allure of materialism. The allure is everywhere? We had a couple of answers, but felt that we may be losing the battle when it comes to shielding and our children. We don't have a billion dollars to can compete with the industry. Any comments or suggestion I can share with others, please? Home education was discussed, but his that enough? Thanks.
Your question about advertising is a very pertinent one, and I am not surprised that you got some of the old "stock answers" to it. Advertising used to be blatant and undirected. It worked on the notion that if you shouted loud enough, someone would listen. Now-a-days your shopping, your internet use, and just about every public interaction that you perform has implications to the extent that you receive, often subliminal, messages from advertisers.
It is no secret that newspapers and magazines are pulling their advertising out of traditional media and putting it into the new media eg Facebook and Google. Google has more information about individual users than most governments and they use that information for one purpose; to ensure that advertisers material is directed to the most likely buyer.
When I lectured in communication, I used to get my students to do searches for material using Google and then I would ask them to do an analysis of the results of the searches. Ninety percent of the returned hits in the first two pages of results were commercially slanted. I pointed out that Google may be a free search engine but it comes with a pricetag. I spent considerable time teaching students how to offset the commercial bias of Google searches.
Most of us search for items we want to buy using Google, to get reviews, compare products and find prices. All that information is used by Google to ensure that Google ads about the products are directed to you.
I am not saying that this is wrong. If I had a product or service to sell, I would use Google-Ads to promote my products too. But the most important thing that we can do is educate young people about how it works and make them aware of the techniques that are used.
You raised the issue Home-schooling and isolationism. If people think that isolation is going to prepare our children for the world then you are missing the point. We have to interact in this world and the best preparation is to understand it. When my grandkids get a school project to do, they immediately turn to their iPads and the Google search engine to find information. I take the time to sit beside them showing them how Google works and I explain the commercial bias to them. They are not going to learn be simple telling them, you have to work with them.
The question also is how do we used our stewardship to bless other?
This lesson is really powerful! Surely, God will never withhold anything good for us. He desires that we do not rebel against him for the sake of the wealth we have managed to gather for ourselves meanwhile our home is yet to come. *[[Phi 3:20]] Easy English* "But we belong to heaven. Our home is not really in this world. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us from the results of sin, to come from heaven. We very much want him to come." Amen
Paul wrote "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil 4:4-7
A covetous and greedy person is not able to be grateful for his/her blessings. They look at the world from a position of lacking. We are all subject to this way of thinking when we are stingy in our thanks for God's abundant blessings.