Chapter 217—Determination the Key
For I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus
Christ, and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:2
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Many are attracted by the beauty of Christ and the glory of heaven, who
yet shrink from the conditions by which alone these can become their own....
To renounce their own will, their chosen objects of affection or pursuit,
requires a sacrifice at which they hesitate and falter and turn back.... They
desire the good, they make some effort to obtain it; but they do not choose it;
they have not a settled purpose to secure it at the cost of all things.
The only hope for us if we would overcome is to unite our will to God’s
will, and work in cooperation with Him, hour by hour and day by day. We
cannot retain self and yet enter the kingdom of God. If we ever attain unto
holiness, it will be through the renunciation of self and the reception of the
mind of Christ. Pride and self-sufficiency must be crucified. Are we willing
to pay the price required of us? Are we willing to have our will brought into
perfect conformity to the will of God? Until we are willing the transforming
grace of God cannot be manifest upon us.
By becoming thoroughly acquainted with ourselves, and then combining
with the grace of God a firm determination on our part, we may be conquerors,
and become perfect in all things, wanting in nothing.
Opposing circumstances should create a firm determination to overcome
them. The breaking down of one barrier will give greater ability and
courage to go forward. Press with determination in the right direction,
and circumstances will be your helpers, not your hindrances.
True Christian character is marked by a singleness of purpose, an
indomitable determination, which refuses to yield to worldly influences,
which will aim at nothing short of the Bible standard.... The consecration of
Christ’s follower must be complete.... He must be willing to bear patiently,
cheerfully, joyfully, whatever in God’s providence he may be called to suffer.
His final reward will be to share with Christ the throne of immortal glory.
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