Brethren and Sisters
“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California
December 15, 1902
This letter is published in entirety in PUR 01/15/03.
My dear brethren and sisters,—
Soon the old year, with its burden of record, will have passed into eternity, and the new year will have begun. Let us gather up the treasures of the past year, and carry with us into the new year the remembrance of God’s goodness and mercy. Let us brighten the future by the thought of past blessings. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 1
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” [Philippians 2:12, 13.] We must co-operate with the Lord Jesus. Only thus shall we be able to accomplish our part of the work. We are to hold fast to all we gain through Christ. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 2
O what wonderful advantages and opportunities there are for those who wear Christ’s yoke! Our troubles come because we manufacture yokes for ourselves, refusing to wear Christ’s yoke. He is our efficiency. He will give us power. Our part is to plant our feet firmly on the platform of eternal truth; then we may know that over us is the protection of God. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 3
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Romans 5:1.] To be justified means to be pardoned. To those whom God justifies He imputes Christ’s righteousness, for the Saviour has taken away our sin. We stand before the throne of God justified and sanctified. We are emptied of self, and through the sanctification of the truth Christ abides in our hearts. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 4
My brethren and sisters, let there be among you no accusing. This is the work of the enemy. If he can lead professing Christians to do this work, he is served as he desires to be. Let no one, by yielding to feelings of envy, weaken the hands of his brother, so that the work that might have been perfect is made imperfect. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 5
Be careful how you carry reports. Often what you tell to others, though seeming to you to be truth, is misrepresentation. False conclusions have been formed. Thread after thread of misrepresentation has been woven into the web until the pattern is entirely false. O how many hearts are grieved and wounded because of the statements made by those who have no real knowledge that what they report is true! How much pain of heart is caused by a cruel handling of reputation! The course of those who utter the slander could be made just as dark, if made to appear in a false light. Backbiting, misrepresentation, holding up the course of a brother or a sister in such a way that it appears to the worst advantage, is the most cruel work that mortals can do. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 6
I ask you to study carefully the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. Pray earnestly for grace, and then prepare your hearts to receive the answer to your prayer. Study Christ’s lessons on sowing and reaping. They teach us plainly that as we sow, so we must reap. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 7
We are being tried and tested. May the Lord of heaven shut us in with Him, that the wicked one may have no power over us. The twelfth and thirteenth chapters of first Corinthians should have more weight with us. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 8
Often, when the Lord works upon a certain man’s mind to do certain things for the advancement of His work, another man, whose mind God is not working, thinks that he can see defects. Let the inquisitive on-looker keep to his own work. The Lord, who sees the end from the beginning, will fulfil His purposes. He will unite with the one to whom He has entrusted His work and will bring about its accomplishment. He, our Elder Brother, knows just what is needed. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 9
Christ is the great Master-worker. We are laborers together with Him. He has a right to give each one his work. And let each one be sure to do the work given him. Let us do faithfully the work that the Lord has placed in our hands. He who neglects his definite work for the work that some one else has in charge is out of place. Time is lost, confidence abused and shaken, and the work hindered. When we learn to attend closely to our own special work, the Lord will help us, and all parts of His cause will move in harmony. 17LtMs, Lt 202, 1902, par. 10