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Choose Him as Our Trusted Friend, March 25
Henceforth I call you not servants; ... but I have called you friends; for all
things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
John 15:15
.
Wickedness prevails at the present day. The perils of the last days thicken around
us, and because iniquity abounds the love of many waxes cold. This need not be
if all would come to Jesus, and in confiding faith trust in Him. His meekness and
lowliness, cherished in the heart, will bring peace and rest, and give moral power to
every soul.
The shortness of time is frequently urged as an incentive for seeking righteous-
ness and making Christ our friend. This should not be the great motive with us; for
it savors of selfishness. Is it necessary that the terrors of the day of God should be
held before us, that we may be compelled to right action through fear? It ought not
to be so. Jesus is attractive. He is full of love, mercy, and compassion. He proposes
to be our friend, to walk with us through all the rough pathways of life. He says to
us, I am the Lord thy God; walk with Me, and I will fill thy path with light. Jesus,
the Majesty of heaven, proposes to elevate to companionship with Himself those
who come to Him with their burdens, their weaknesses, and their cares. He will
count them as His children, and finally give them an inheritance of more value than
the empires of kings, a crown of glory richer than has ever decked the brow of the
most exalted earthly monarch.
It is our duty to love Jesus as our Redeemer. He has a right to command our
love, but He invites us to give Him our heart. He calls us to walk with Him in the
path of humble, truthful obedience. His invitation to us is a call to a pure, holy, and
happy life—a life of peace and rest, of liberty and love—and to a rich inheritance
in the future, immortal life. Which will we choose—liberty in Christ, or bondage
and tyranny in the service of Satan? ... If we choose to live with Christ through the
ceaseless ages of eternity, why not choose Him now as our most loved and trusted
friend, our best and wisest counselor.
It is our privilege to have daily a calm, close, happy walk with Jesus. We need
not be alarmed if the path lies through conflicts and sufferings. We may have the
peace which passeth understanding; but it will cost us battles with the powers of
darkness, struggles severe against selfishness and inbred sin. The victories gained
daily through persevering, untiring effort in well-doing will be precious through
Christ who has loved us, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a “peculiar people, zealous of good works”....
The Son of the Highest suffered shame on the cross, that sinners might not suffer
everlasting shame and contempt, but be ransomed, and crowned with eternal glory
(
The Signs of the Times, March 17, 1887
).
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