EGW
We are now building characters for time and for eternity. Then let us not bring rotten timbers into our character-building. The life we live in the flesh must be by faith in the Son of God. It is good that afflictions come upon us; for we may thereby prove the Lord, and find him very precious unto our souls. The Lord designs that his people shall be happy, and he opens before us one source of consolation after another, that we may be filled with joy and peace in the midst of our present experience. We are not to wait until we shall get into heaven for brightness and comfort and joy. We are to have them right here in this life. I testify to all who love and serve God, that we miss very much because we do not grasp the blessings that may be ours in our afflictions. All our sufferings and sorrows, all our temptations and trials, all our sadness and griefs, all our persecutions and privations, and in short all things, work together for our good. The apostle says, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” All experiences and circumstances are God's workmen whereby good is brought to us. Let us look at the light behind the cloud. O, how much of comfort the murmurers and complainers lose in not bearing all things patiently! Never by thought or word or action give the impression that the Lord is a hard Master, reaping where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strawed. RH February 27, 1894, par. 1
Christ has said, “Ye are the light of the world.” Then let us individually send forth clear, steady rays of light to the world. Our light is never to grow dim, never to burn low. The Lord is at the door; who will prove to be the wise, and who the foolish virgins? Who will be revealed at last as those who have the lamps, but no oil of grace in their vessels with their lamps? The church has been made the depositary of truth. Light has been imparted to her members, and they are to have works corresponding to their privileges and opportunities. They cannot correctly represent the truth in a single instance, unless they are sanctified through the truth. To sanctify is to set apart for a special service. Those who are controlled by worldly ambition will never shine as lights. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” RH February 27, 1894, par. 2
Those who see the preciousness of truth should conform their lives to its principles, and not walk in darkness. They should shine and irradiate the world with their beams of heavenly light. Christ says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Many in the church neither burn nor shine. When those who profess to be Christians are sad and mournful, they make manifest the fact that they are not following Jesus; for he has said, “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” If they are not following Christ, whom are they following?—The arch-deceiver, who represents himself as an angel of light. Christ is the light of life, and he designs that all who follow him shall represent him in character, and show his all-sufficiency and perfection. If they do not do this, they are not a light, but lead away from the light. They are bodies of darkness, and hinder the rays of the Sun of Righteousness from shining to their fellow-men. RH February 27, 1894, par. 3
If those who hold positions of trust in connection with our institutions, or in connection with the church, make self first, if their hands are defiled in any way, and they do not reflect in character the image of the divine One, they are bodies of darkness. To be the light of the world is to shine, to send the heavenly rays amid the moral darkness that covers the earth and the gross darkness that prevails among the people. Christians must not follow the customs, the practices, of the world. By so doing they will be ensnared. The world has its captain and leader, who is the prince of darkness; but the sons and daughters of God must look steadfastly to Jesus for an example; and if they walk in the light as Christ is in the light, they cannot but shine. They will do honor to their leader. They will have the light of hope, of joy; they will manifest humility of mind, lowliness of heart; they will reveal that simplicity and purity of character that will testify to the divine source from which it sprang. If the church exemplifies the simple truth, as it has been exemplified by our Lord, she will be a power for good. Just as long as the church maintains her simplicity, she will be the light of the world. The prophet says, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In letting our light shine to the world, no self-exaltation is exhibited. RH February 27, 1894, par. 4
What have we to bestow that we have not first received of God? Every gift, every talent, every ray of light, is ours as a sacred trust, bestowed upon us that we may win souls to Christ. If Christ shines in us, he will shine out of us to those who need the light. We have no time to lose. We can read the signs of the times in casualties, in disasters, by sea and by land. The floods, the storms, the fires, the unsettled condition of affairs throughout our world,—all testify that the day of God is at hand. RH February 27, 1894, par. 5
All heaven is looking with intense interest upon the church, to see what her individual members are doing to enlighten those who are in darkness. The field is the world, and the openings are so many, the work has so enlarged, that it is beyond the proportion of the means on hand to supply the necessary demands. For years the Lord has been warning his people to bind about their wants, to incur no needless outlay of means. But notwithstanding the counsel of Him who knows the end from the beginning, how needlessly has money been expended. The cautions given have been lightly esteemed, and the minds of men have misinterpreted, turned aside, or wrested the counsel of God, in order that they might follow their own ambitious projects, although by so doing, the very means by which God might have been glorified and honored in extending his truth, is lost to the cause. The Lord has graciously honored man, employing him as the human agent to co-operate with heavenly intelligences, that the light of truth may shine in all parts of the earth. The Lord has his agents who will act a part in the mightiest conflict which the world has ever seen. If the workers remain humble, learning daily, in the school of Christ, meekness and lowliness of heart, the Lord Jesus will work with them. He who is a co-worker with Christ will realize that in conferring heavenly benefits on others, he himself will be benefited. He will know that “he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” RH February 27, 1894, par. 6
The plain testimony must be borne upon the necessity of self-denial. Through extravagant, selfish indulgence, the Lord's money is embezzled to gratify unsanctified imaginations, and this needless expenditure binds about the work of God. Messengers cannot be sent into missionary fields without money. The expenditure of their traveling expenses, the outlay for food and simple clothing, for shelter and life's necessities, must be met. Satan is continually suggesting ways whereby men can invest their means to get honor and glory to themselves. They build when the Lord does not say build. They will bind up thousands of dollars when the Lord has warned them not to do this, and the result is that missionary interests must suffer. Mere ambitious enterprises swallow up money that the Lord designed should be invested to set in operation the work in new fields, to aid the missionaries already started, that need encouragement and advancement, that the work should not be lost. Those who have the cause of God at heart, will suffer some inconveniences that the work may go forward. If every institution is to be made all that it might become, and we work to that end exclusively, we shall rob some other field, where missionaries for lack of help are not able to find a standing-place, to exert the influence the Lord would have them exert. We need to think more deeply, and to keep the glory of God constantly in view, and not mingle self in the superintending of the Lord's instrumentalities, thus bringing upon the cause of God a burden that it ought not to carry. RH February 27, 1894, par. 7
I plead with my brethren and sisters who believe the Lord is soon to come, to have more than finite wisdom. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” We need not go stumbling along in uncertainty, thinking that the larger our institutions become, the more will they exert influence in the world. The strength of our institutions is not found so much in their worldly prosperity as in the character of their managers. They are to be meek and lowly of heart, learning daily their lessons in the school of Christ, seeking by prayer and supplication to know the will of the Lord, and inquiring at every step, “Is this the way of the Lord?” It is not the imposing buildings that will strike conviction to souls, but the piety, the humility, the love and fear of God, which actuate the hearts of those who occupy positions of trust in the management of the work. Is it God's work? Is it receiving the worldly mold? Are the sacred and the common so mingled that nothing stands clearly defined? O, how the Lord has been dishonored by false ideas! Spiritual things have not been discerned. Appearance and machinery have been exalted as of power, while the virtue of true goodness, noble piety, and heart-holiness, have been made a secondary consideration. That which should have been first has been made last and of least importance. RH February 27, 1894, par. 8
If we only had some of the means that has been invested in buildings to make a display that will never bring honor to the cause of God, what a good work might be done! How does the Lord, looking down from heaven, regard these things? How does he look upon the perversion of his goods, when money is put to a wrong use? Will he not inquire, Why did you use my goods in this way? Brethren who believe the truth, we must have more of Jesus, and less, a great deal less, of self,—none of self, and all of Jesus. We must have a baptism of the missionary spirit. We should feel that we are a part of God's great whole, united in one common brotherhood. This will lead to a willing consecration of our property to the cause of Christ. Shall the Lord Jesus see his professed followers willing to deny self, to heed the injunction, “Sell that ye have, and give alms;” and to render a portion of their property for the same object for which Christ came to our world and gave his own life? “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” Let no one think that he will meet the mind of Christ in hoarding up property through life, and then at death making a bequest of a portion of it to some benevolent cause. Men are expending millions of money for selfish indulgences, to gratify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. RH February 27, 1894, par. 9
May the Lord lay our human ambitions in the dust, in order that we may understand whether we are following the unsanctified imaginings of the natural heart or the dictates of the Spirit of God. Self must be abased, and God must be obeyed and exalted. Let every soul who fears and loves God, seek for deeper piety, and let those who are walking in darkness and have no light, stay themselves upon God. We must have a deeper work of grace wrought in the soul, or we shall not be able to endure the test and trial of the conflict coming upon us in these last days. RH February 27, 1894, par. 10