Many, many souls might be saved if those who claim to be followers of Christ would work as Christ worked, living not to please self, but to glorify God, acting as missionaries, showing genuine love for the Master by making every possible use of their entrusted talents. From the very nature of work in Christ’s lines, those who do it will lose sight of self. DPSDAI 14.1
We are called upon to love souls as Christ loved them, to feel a travail of soul that sinners shall be converted. Present the matchless love of Christ. Hide self out of sight. O, what care should be taken by all who claim to be Christians, that they do not call their passions and self-importance religion! By showing vanity, by longing for distinction, many hide the person of Christ and expose themselves to view. There is such self-importance in their own ideas and ways, and they cherish such a pleasing sense of their own smartness, that the Lord can not bestow his Holy Spirit upon them. If He did, they would misinterpret it, and exalt themselves still higher because of it. Their self-pleasing ideas are a great hindrance to the advancement of the work. Whatever part they act, self is the main picture presented. Their own zeal and devotion are thought to be the great power of truth. Unaware to themselves, all such are unfaithful stewards. They swerve the work into wrong lines. Self-importance leads them where they will be left to make false moves. DPSDAI 14.2
We are not to exalt the work of any man, magnifying him and praising his judgment. The first rising of self is the beginning of your fall, your separation from Christ. We can not in any degree exalt self without being humbled. As Christians, we are to make the light of Christ’s truth shine. Self is to be kept out of sight. Christ is the Truth and the Light. He is the mirror from which to reflect truly every work done to His name’s glory. The world needs light. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” ... DPSDAI 14.3