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Redeeming the Time, December 6
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, ... redeeming the time, because the
days are evil.
Ephesians 5:14-16
.
We are living in the most solemn period of this world’s history. The destiny of
earth’s teeming multitudes is about to be decided.... We need to be guided by the
Spirit of truth....
Many are deceived as to their true condition before God. They congratulate
themselves upon the wrong acts which they do not commit, and forget to enumerate
the good and noble deeds which God requires of them, but which they have neglected
to perform. It is not enough that they are trees in the garden of God. They are
to answer His expectation by bearing fruit. He holds them accountable for their
failure to accomplish all the good which they could have done, through His grace
strengthening them. In the books of heaven they are registered as cumberers of the
ground. Yet the case of even this class is not utterly hopeless. With those who have
slighted God’s mercy and abused His grace, the heart of long-suffering love yet
pleads. “Wherefore ... awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, ... redeeming the time,
because the days are evil” (
Ephesians 5:14-16
).
When the testing time shall come, those who have made God’s Word their
rule of life will be revealed. In summer there is no noticeable difference between
evergreens and other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens
remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of their foliage. So the falsehearted
professor may not now be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just
upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotry and
intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and
hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firm as a
rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in days of prosperity.
Says the psalmist: “Thy testimonies are my meditation.” “Through thy precepts
I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way” (
Psalm 119:99, 104
).
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom.” “He shall be as a tree planted by the
waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat
cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (
Proverbs 3:13
;
Jeremiah 17:8
) (
The Great
Controversy, 601, 602
).
Not by its name, but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined (
The Desire of
Ages, 107
).
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