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An Honored Guest, February 9
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me.
Revelation 3:20
.
All who will open their hearts to receive Him may have Jesus as an
honored guest.
Jesus is the perfect pattern. Instead of trying to please self and have
our own way, let us seek to reflect His image. He was kind and courteous,
compassionate and tender. Are we like Him in these respects? Do we
seek to make our lives fragrant with good works? ...
It is not enough that we merely profess the faith; something more than
a nominal assent is wanted. There must be a real knowledge, a genuine
experience in the principles of the truth as it is in Jesus. The Holy Spirit
must work within, bringing these principles into the strong light of distinct
consciousness, that we may know their power and make them a living
reality....
God has honored His Son by making Him the model after which He
molds the characters of all who believe on Him. He takes of the things of
Christ and reveals them to us, that we may catch His temper and bear His
likeness....
The obstacles, provocations, and hardships that we meet, may prove
to us, not a curse, but the greatest blessings of our lives; for the grandest
characters are built amid hardships and trials. But they must be received
as practical lessons in the school of Christ. Every temptation resisted,
every trial bravely borne, gives us a new experience and advances us in the
work of character building. We have a better knowledge of the working
of Satan, and of our own power to defeat him through divine grace.
Jesus was the light of the world.... It is our privilege to walk in the
sunshine of His presence and to weave into the characters we are forming
the golden threads of cheerfulness, gratitude, forbearance, and love. We
may thus show the power of divine grace and reflect light from Heaven
amid all the frets and irritations that come to us day by day.
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