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What God Expects, February 1
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.... Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James
4:6-10
.
When God entrusts men with responsibilities, He expects them to obey His
law. They are to deal justly, realizing that the Lord beholds all their dealings
with their fellow men, and that He will punish every unjust, oppressive action.
God gives men opportunities to become one with Christ and one with Him.
Those who walk in the fear of God, meditating upon His character, will daily
become more and more like Christ. Those who choose not to know God will
be ostentatious and boastful.
There are many who put on what they think to be great dignity. But in
God’s sight they are fools. They have not looked into the divine mirror, and
they do not know how ridiculous is their pretension in the sight of a holy
God. He who looks beneath the surface despises their self-sufficiency. They
may hold positions of trust in the church or in the world, but so long as they
continue to dishonor their Creator, making themselves the object of worship,
they are an offense to Him.
God does not take pleasure in punishing those who walk contrary to Him,
giving a false representation of His character. But unless they repent, the time
will come when they must reap the sure reward of their course of action....
Those who have entered into a covenant to serve God are to fear lest
their lives be such that they will not show the contrast between truth and
error. They are not to turn aside to vain visions and human conjectures and
flatteries. The lives of the righteous are to put to shame those who refuse to
offer their allegiance to God.... God calls upon His people to walk before
Him in all humility. He would have them reach higher and still higher in
spiritual knowledge. He holds out every inducement to lead men to return to
their allegiance to Him....
God is seeking to lead men to humble themselves. He tries to guide
them to place their feet in the steps of the great Medical Missionary. But the
Redeemer is often disappointed and crucified afresh by those professing so
much.—
Letter 61, February 1, 1904
, to “My Brethren Bearing Responsibili-
ties.”
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