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Personal Influence is a Power, September 29
You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from
Lebanon.
Song of Solomon 4:15
, NIV.
It is through personal contact and association that men are reached by the saving
power of the gospel. They are not saved as masses, but as individuals. Personal
influence is a power. It is to work with the influence of Christ, to lift where Christ
lifts, to impart correct principles, and to stay the progress of the world’s corruption.
It is to diffuse that grace which Christ alone can impart. It is to uplift, to sweeten the
lives and characters of others by the power of a pure example united with earnest
faith and love....
Through sin, the whole human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the
imagination corrupted; the faculties of the soul are degraded. There is an absence
of pure religion, of heart holiness. The converting power of God has not wrought
in transforming the character. The soul is weak, and for want of moral force to
overcome, is polluted and debased.
To the heart that has become purified, all is changed. Transformation of character
is the testimony to the world of an indwelling Christ. The Spirit of God produces
a new life in the soul, bringing the thoughts and desires into obedience to the will
of Christ; and the inward man is renewed in the image of God. Weak and erring
men and women show to the world that the redeeming power of grace can cause the
faulty character to develop into symmetry and abundant fruitfulness.
The heart that receives the Word of God is not as a pool that evaporates, not
like a broken cistern that loses its treasure. It is like the mountain stream, fed by
unfailing springs, whose cool, sparkling waters leap from rock to rock, refreshing
the weary, the thirsty, the heavy-laden. It is like a river constantly flowing and, as it
advances, becoming deeper and wider, until its life-giving waters are spread over all
the earth....
So it is with the true child of God. The religion of Christ reveals itself as a
vitalizing, pervading principle, a living, working, spiritual energy. When the heart
is opened to the heavenly influence of truth and love, these principles will flow
forth again like streams in the desert, causing fruitfulness to appear where now are
barrenness and dearth.
As those who have been cleansed and sanctified through a knowledge of Bible
truth engage heartily in the work of soul saving, they will become indeed a savor
of life unto life. And as daily they drink of the inexhaustible fountain of grace and
knowledge, they will find that their own hearts are filled to overflowing with the
Spirit of their Master, and that through their unselfish ministry many are benefited
physically, mentally, and spiritually. The weary are refreshed, the sick restored to
health, and the sin-burdened relieved (
Prophets and Kings, 232-234
).
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