Importance of Seeking True Knowledge
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will, one may place himself in the power of evil; but it requires more
than a momentary act of will to break these fetters and attain to a
higher, holier life. The purpose may be formed, the work begun; but
its accomplishment will require toil, time, and perseverance, patience
and sacrifice.
Beset with temptations without number, we must resist firmly or be
conquered. Should we come to the close of life with our work undone,
it would be an eternal loss.
Paul’s sanctification was the result of a constant conflict with self.
He said: “I die daily.”
1 Corinthians 15:31
. His will and his desires
every day conflicted with duty and the will of God. Instead of following
inclination, he did God’s will, however crucifying to his own nature.
God leads His people on step by step. The Christian life is a
battle and a march. In this warfare there is no release; the effort must
be continuous and persevering. It is by unceasing endeavor that we
maintain the victory over the temptations of Satan. Christian integrity
must be sought with resistless energy and maintained with a resolute
fixedness of purpose.
No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering effort
in his own behalf. All must engage in this warfare for themselves.
Individually we are responsible for the issue of the struggle; though
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Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could deliver neither son
nor daughter by their righteousness.
The Science to be Mastered
There is a science of Christianity to be mastered,—a science as
much deeper, broader, higher than any human science as the heavens
are higher than the earth. The mind is to be disciplined, educated,
trained; for we are to do service for God in ways that are not in harmony
with inborn inclination. There are hereditary and cultivated tendencies
to evil that must be overcome. Often the training and education of
a lifetime must be discarded, that one may become a learner in the
school of Christ. Our hearts must be educated to become steadfast in
God. We are to form habits of thought that will enable us to resist
temptation. We must learn to look upward. The principles of the
word of God—principles that are as high as heaven, and that compass
eternity—we are to understand in their bearing upon our daily life.