We Are Created to Do Good Works, September 21

Laborers Together With God in the Neighborhood

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.SD 271.1

There are possibilities for work to be done by you for Jesus that you have never dreamed of. A Christian is a Christ-like man, a Christ-like woman who is active in God's service, who is present at the social meeting, whose presence will encourage others also. Religion does not consist in works, but religion works; it is not dormant. The pure religion of Jesus is the fountain from which flow streams of charity, love, self-sacrifice.... With the love of Christ in the heart, the lips will utter His praise and magnify His name. There will be a pressure upon the soul filled with Christ's love....SD 271.2

God's sons and daughters must show they are of heavenly extraction. The great man in God's sight is he who in the midst of crowds, of cares and financial pressure, keeps his soul unpolluted, unstained, without one blot of worldly pollution. Firmly relying upon God by prayer and faith, the soul will stand firm in moral independence, yet with perfect kindness, love, and goodness. The temptations of society are met and resisted, communion is maintained with God, and the communication between your soul and God enables you to transmit to others through your social relations the choicest blessings which Heaven has to bestow.... Exact and impartial justice will be seen in all his dealings, but his duty does not end here. God requires more. He demands of you to love as Christ has loved souls. He demands of you compassion for the suffering, the erring, those who are subject to Satan's temptations. He demands of you kindness, courtesy to even the unfortunate, a generous consideration of the feelings of others.... You must so order your intercourse and deal with the world as to secure for yourself a calm, hallowed peace, while you leave a record behind of a godly example.^{49Letter 7, 1883.}SD 271.3