An Offertory Devotional video for Sabbath, May 21, 2022, in your @adventistchurch: vimeo.com/687923916. Putting God first can be difficult. What we can learn from this video that will help us put God first in our lives today? Also available in #Spanish and #Portuguese. Put #GodFirst #StewardshipMinistries
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For more information on the Stewardship Ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, you can head over to stewardship.adventist.org/
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We worship God with our resources because of His sacrificial love. Jesus left heaven, and He
embraces the plight of fallen humanity. He accomplished His mission against fearful odds
and dire resistance. Finally, He offered it all, His own life. This is how He demonstrated
love. As God’s representatives, a sacrificial spirit is part of our true identity. That was the spirit
demonstrated by our church’s pioneers, and J. N. Andrews was a leading figure among them.
John Andrews was a widow with two children when he accepted a call to go to Europe as the
first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary. He accepted the call without knowing what his
specific salary would be. They agreed to send him money from time to time, but this was not
done as regularly as needed. For him to publish tracts, pamphlets, and the French periodical
Les Signes des Temps, he often had to use his own funds, sometimes going without food and
other necessities. He contracted pneumonia in 1877, and after his examination, the physician
commented: “This man is almost starved to death!” One year later, Andrews’ daughter died of
tuberculosis. The committed missionary nevertheless relentlessly continued his groundbreaking
work until he died of tuberculosis at the age of 54.
We are living in a time when money and other resources are hard to find. Waiting for surplus
or leftover resources to support the mission could be a pious wish. In this context, these words
of Ellen White are most relevant: “And the absence of SELF-DENIAL in His professed followers,
God regards as a denial of the Christian name. Those who profess to be one with Christ and
indulge their selfish desires for rich and expensive clothing, furniture, and food, are Christians
only in name. To be a Christian is to be Christlike” (Review & Herald, Oct. 13, 1896). This week, may
our tithe and regular offerings, called Promise, reflect a spirit of self-denial, the Spirit of Christ.
Lord, we praise You for consenting to make the greatest of all sacrifices to save us. Help
us demonstrate the same sacrificial spirit in our daily lives, including how we use our
resources.