Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2 - Ellen G. White

self-gratification, from which no profit is received.
By this outlay, they are not clothed or fed, the
widow and the fatherless are not relieved, the
hungry are not fed, the naked are not clothed.
While money is spent lavishly in selfgratification,
stinted offerings are brought to God
almost unwillingly. How much of the wages earned
by the young finds its way into the treasury of God
to aid in the advancement of the work of saving
souls? They give a mite each week and feel that
they do much. But they have no sense that they are
just as much stewards of God over their little as are
the wealthy over their larger possessions. God has
been robbed and themselves indulged, their
pleasure consulted, their taste gratified, without a
thought that He would make close investigation of
how they have used His goods. While such
unhesitatingly gratify their supposed wants and
withhold from God the offering they ought to
make, He will no more accept the little pittance
they hand into the treasury than He accepted the
offering of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, who
purposed to rob Him in their offerings.
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