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Spiritual Salt, July 11
Ye are the salt of the earth.
Matthew 5:13
.
God requires those who claim to believe the Bible, the standard of Chris-
tian character, to bring the Christ-likeness into all their service, that not one
particle of the salt shall lose its preserving influence. The Christ-likeness is
ever to be preserved. The mind and heart are to be cleansed from all sin, all
unlikeness to Christ.
God has duties for everyone in His service, for every church member, to
perform. His people are to exalt the power of the law above human judgment.
By bringing the entire being, body, soul, and spirit, into harmony with the
law, they are to establish the law.
God will open the way for His subjects to perform unselfish actions in all
their associations, in all their business transactions with the world. By their
acts of kindness and love, they are to show that they are opposed to greed
and selfishness, and are representing the kingdom of heaven in our world. By
self-denial, by sacrificing the gain they might obtain, they are to avoid sin,
that in accordance with the laws of God’s kingdom they may represent the
truth in all its beauty.
But if our words and actions are unChristlike; if the spirit we cherish is
not helpful; if we retain the old, unsavory traits of character, studying how
we may get the best of the bargain, to the disadvantage of someone else;
if, unmindful that it is our duty to help one another, we care little whether
we hurt and destroy a brother’s prospects, we are as salt which has lost its
savor—good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden underfoot as valueless.
We may gain some advantage ourselves, but what help are we to the world?
How can we have preservative qualities of character, as salt which retains
its savor? How can we exert a saving influence? By obeying to the letter
in every transaction of life, the plain commands of God; by being kind,
benevolent, generous; by seeing the necessities of the cause of God, and
trying to relieve them; by doing the work that must be done to represent the
truth as it is in Jesus.—
Letter 79, July 11, 1901
, to A. G. Daniells, newly
elected president of the General Conference.
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