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Laborers with Him, October 2
Ye are the light of the world.
Matthew 5:14
.
Our Lord designed that His church should reflect to the world the fullness and
sufficiency that we find in Him. We are constantly receiving of God’s bounty, and
by imparting of the same we are to represent to the world the love and beneficence
of Christ. While all heaven is astir, dispatching messengers to every part of the earth
to carry forward the work of redemption, the church of the living God are also to
be colaborers with Christ. We are members of His mystical body. He is the head,
controlling all the members of the body. Jesus Himself, in His infinite mercy, is
working on human hearts, effecting spiritual transformations so amazing that angels
look on with astonishment and joy. The same unselfish love that characterizes the
Master is seen in the character and life of His true followers. Christ expects that
men will become partakers of His divine nature while in this world, thus not only
reflecting His glory to the praise of God, but illumining the darkness of the world
with the radiance of heaven. Thus will be fulfilled the words of Christ: “Ye are the
light of the world.”
“We are labourers together with God,” “stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
The knowledge of God’s grace, the truths of His Word, and temporal gifts as well—
time and means, talents and influence—are all a trust from God to be employed
to His glory and the salvation of men. Nothing can be more offensive to God,
who is constantly bestowing His gifts upon man, than to see him selfishly grasping
these gifts and making no returns to the Giver. Jesus is today in heaven preparing
mansions for those who love Him; yes, more than mansions, a kingdom which is to
be ours. But all who shall inherit these blessings must be partakers of the self-denial
and self-sacrifice of Christ for the good of others.
Never was there greater need of earnest, self-sacrificing labor in the cause of
Christ than now, when the hours of probation are fast closing and the last message
of mercy is to be given to the world. My soul is stirred within me as the Macedonian
cry comes from every direction, from the cities and villages of our own land, from
across the Atlantic and the broad Pacific, and from the islands of the sea: “Come
over ..., and help us.” Brethren and sisters, will you answer the cry? saying: “We will
do our best, both in sending you missionaries and money. We will deny ourselves
in the embellishment of our houses, in the adornment of our persons, and in the
gratification of appetite. We will give the means entrusted to us into the cause of
God, and we will devote ourselves also unreservedly to His work”.... Let every
dollar that you can spare be invested in the bank of heaven (
Testimonies for the
Church 5:731-733
).
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