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A Decided Reformation Needed, October 14
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life.
John 5:24
.
Just as long as you allow pride to dwell in your hearts, so long will you lack
power in your work. For years a wrong spirit has been cherished, a spirit of pride, a
desire for preeminence. In this Satan is served, and God is dishonored. The Lord
calls for a decided reformation.... Let [a truly reconverted soul] renew his covenant
with God, and God will renew His covenant with him.... Let angels and men see
that there is forgiveness of sin with God. Extraordinary power from God must take
hold of Seventh-day Adventist churches. Reconversion must take place among the
members, that as God’s witnesses they may testify to the authoritative power of the
truth that sanctifies the soul. Renewed, purified, sanctified, the church must be, else
the wrath of God will fall upon them with much greater power than upon those who
have never professed to be saints.
Those who are sanctified through the truth will show that the truth has worked a
reformation in their lives, that it is preparing them for translation into the heavenly
world. But as long as pride and envy and evil-surmising predominate in the life,
Christ does not rule in the heart. His love is not in the soul. In the lives of those who
are partakers of the divine nature there is a crucifixion of the haughty, self-sufficient
spirit that leads to self-exaltation. In its place the Spirit of Christ abides, and in the
life the fruits of the Spirit appear. Having the mind of Christ, His followers reveal
the graces of His character.
Nothing short of this will make men acceptable to God. Nothing short of this
will give them the pure, holy character that those must have who are admitted to
heaven. As soon as a man puts on Christ, an evidence of the change wrought in him
is seen in spirit and word and act. A heavenly atmosphere surrounds his soul; for
Christ is abiding within.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you,” Christ declared, “He that believeth on me hath
everlasting life” (
John 6:47
). Oh, how few there are who reveal in their lives the
principles of this life! They profess to believe the most sacred truth ever given to
mortals, but in their lives they dishonor God. He that “eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (
verses 54-56
) ... It behooves us to live
in the fear and love of God. God is supreme, and He cooperates with those who
represent Christ in life and character, those who are kind, thoughtful, self-denying,
and self-sacrificing. Christ says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (
Matthew 16:14
) (
Letter 63, 1903
).
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