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Press Together! Press Together!, October 23
Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that
shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24:12, 13
.
God has selected a people in these last days whom He has made the depositaries
of His law, and this people will ever have disagreeable tasks to perform. “I know thy
works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which
are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and
hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake
hast laboured, and hast not fainted.” It will require much diligence and a continual
struggle to keep evil out of our churches. There must be rigid, impartial discipline
exercised; for some who have a semblance of religion will seek to undermine the
faith of others and will privily work to exalt themselves.
The Lord Jesus, on the Mount of Olives, plainly stated that “because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” He speaks of a class who have
fallen from a high state of spirituality. Let such utterances as these come home with
solemn, searching power to our hearts. Where is the fervor, the devotion to God,
that corresponds to the greatness of the truth which we claim to believe? The love
of the world, the love of some darling sin, has weaned the heart from the love of
prayer and of meditation on sacred things. A formal round of religious services is
kept up; but where is the love of Jesus? Spirituality is dying. Is this torpor, this
mournful deterioration, to be perpetuated? Is the lamp of truth to flicker and go out
in darkness because it is not replenished by the oil of grace? ...
Self-esteem and self-sufficiency are killing spiritual life. Self is lifted up; self is
talked about. Oh, that self might die! “I die daily,” said the apostle Paul. When this
proud, boasting self-sufficiency and this complacent self-righteousness permeate
the soul, there is no room for Jesus. He is given an inferior place, while self swells
into importance and fills the whole temple of the soul. This is the reason why the
Lord can do so little for us. Should He work with our efforts, the instrument would
appropriate all the glory to his own smartness, his wisdom, his ability, and he would
congratulate himself, as did the Pharisee: “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of
all that I possess.” When self shall be hidden in Christ, it will not be brought to the
surface so frequently....
It is only when we are careful to carry out the Master’s orders without leaving
our stamp and identity upon the work that we work efficiently and harmoniously.
“Press together,” said the angel, “press together” (
Testimonies for the Church 5:538,
539
).
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