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Christ is Everything to Those Who Receive Him, July 26
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27
.
The transformation of the human character makes the yoke of Christ easy, and
His burden light. Through faith everyone can, if he will become one with Christ in
his obedience and his service.
It is God’s prerogative to command; it is the duty of man to obey. Nothing is
forced upon any soul. The honor of duty is a thing conferred upon him as a Son
of God, an heir of heaven. He is to labor for God in interested, truehearted, glad,
honorable service. In obeying all His commandments, a spirit of love for God is
revealed. In this very atmosphere of love Christ lived and worked.
Each word, each action, is a work for God. Here is faith in God, and faith in
men. Christ would never have given His life for the human race if He had not faith
in the souls for whom He died. He knew that a large number would respond to the
love He had expressed for humanity. It is not every heart that responds, but every
heart may, and can if it will, respond to that love that is without parallel. “My sheep
hear my voice,” Christ said. A heart yearning for God will recognize the voice of
God. God cannot respond to one soul that does not respond to His grace offered,
His love bestowed. He is waiting for a response from souls....
The issue rests wholly with themselves. He bids them to the marriage feast; He
sets before them the banquet that will satisfy every want. His word is full of marrow
and fatness. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with
all your heart.”... Then the Lord will give an outpouring of His Spirit as on the day
of Pentecost....
Communion with God is for each one personal and direct. The heart under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit will burn within them with the love of God. They are
like trustful children. Christ looks not for merit. O if all would come just as they
are, and let Him make the preparation in taking them as His. The Lord only wants
them to receive Him and learn to wear His yoke, and lift His burdens, that heaven
may behold that they are laborers together with God. Why cannot every soul that
needs help and rest come to the burden bearer, that he may have light and life.
Christ could not help being bright and shining. His very work was to shine.
I am come, He said, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly.” In Me is no darkness at all.... Light means revelation, and the light is
to shine amid moral darkness. Christ is everything to those who receive Him. He is
their Comforter, their safety, their healthfulness. Apart from Christ there is no light
at all. There need not be a cloud between the soul and Jesus.... His great heart of
love is longing to flood the soul with the bright beams of His righteousness (
Letter
153a, 1897
).
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