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Claiming the Privileges, May 26
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:13, 14
.
Do whatever you can and the way will open before you. Every moment
of time is golden. Souls out of Christ are to be persuaded to lay hold of the
hope of the gospel....
We are not to live in this world to please ourselves. We have stern, earnest
work to do every day of our lives. We look by faith to the things that are
unseen and in so doing we lose sight of the trials and hardships of the way.
Heaven is our home. We dare not run any risk of losing the one hope we have
cherished so long, of seeing Jesus as He is and of being made like Him. We
hope you will guard your steps. Live the life of prayer and faith and win the
unfading crown of glory.
There is no other way for any of us to be saved but that way wrought
out by our Redeemer. He has, in His life on the earth, given us a practical
illustration in self-denial and self-sacrifice of what He wishes us to be. “I
came not,” says Christ, “to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
Me” (see
John 6:38
).
We cannot be Christians while we live to please ourselves. We must enter
in through the strait gate of self-denial, if we follow the Master. This strait,
self-denying path is too narrow for many to walk in who profess godliness.
They want an easier path and are climbing up some other way. They refuse
to follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer. Christ calls all such thieves and
robbers. They take the name of Christian, which does not belong to them,
because they do not represent in their life the life of Christ. They claim
the privileges which belong to the sons of God while they are none of His.
They live selfish lives upon the earth and have done nothing for the truth
and the salvation of souls as they ought to have done. Sad indeed for these
self-deceived ones. They will never see heaven, because they are not willing
to share the shame, the reproach, that Jesus suffered for them.
Dear children, let Christ be enshrined in your hearts and you will love all
for whom Christ has died, and will do all you can to save them.—
Letter 30,
May 26, 1874
, to her children.
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