The Dangers of Prosperity
There is another danger to which the wealthy are especially exposed, and here also is a field for the medical missionary. Multitudes who are prosperous in the world and who never stoop to the common forms of vice are yet brought to destruction through the love of riches. The cup most difficult to carry is not the cup that is empty but the cup that is full to the brim. It is this that needs to be most carefully balanced. Affliction and adversity bring disappointment and sorrow, but it is prosperity that is most dangerous to spiritual life.MHH 113.5
Those who are suffering reverses are represented by the bush that Moses saw in the desert, which, though burning, was not consumed. The Angel of the Lord was in the midst of the bush. So in deprivation and affliction the brightness of the presence of the Unseen is with us to comfort and sustain. Often prayer is solicited for those who are suffering from illness or adversity, but our prayers are most needed by the people entrusted with prosperity and influence.MHH 114.1
In the valley of humiliation, where souls feel their need and depend on God to guide their steps, there is comparative safety. But people who stand, as it were, on a lofty pinnacle, and who, because of their position, are supposed to possess great wisdom—these are in greatest peril. Unless they make God their dependence, they will surely fall.MHH 114.2
The Bible condemns no one for being rich if the riches have been acquired honestly. Not money, but the love of money, is the root of all evil. It is God who gives people power to get wealth, and in the hands of one who acts as God’s steward, using the means unselfishly, wealth is a blessing, both to its possessor and to the world. But many, absorbed in their interest in worldly treasures, become insensible to the claims of God and the needs of others. They regard their wealth as a means of glorifying themselves. They add house to house, and land to land; they fill their homes with luxuries, while all about them are human beings in misery and crime, in disease and death. Those who thus give their lives to self-serving are developing in themselves not the attributes of God but the attributes of the wicked one.MHH 114.3
These people need the gospel. They need to have their eyes turned from the vanity of material things to behold the preciousness of the enduring riches. They need to learn the joy of giving, the blessedness of being co-workers with God.MHH 114.4
The Lord bids us, “Command those who are rich in this present age” not to trust “in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19.MHH 114.5
It is not by casual, accidental touch that wealthy, world-loving, world-worshiping people will be drawn to Christ. Often these are the most difficult to get access to. Personal effort must be put forth for them by men and women imbued with the missionary spirit, those who will not fail or be discouraged.MHH 114.6