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Promise of His Presence, February 10
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2 Timothy 4:2
.
Whoever attempts the work of reform will have decided opposition to
meet. This work requires self-renunciation....
We must not ask whether we are appreciated or unappreciated. With this
we have naught to do. Look at the way in which Christ worked. Whoever
attempts any work of reform, whoever tries to lead the sinner to a life of
self-denial and holiness will need every hour the assurance given by Christ
after His resurrection, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world” (
Matthew 28:20
).
Take the Word. Live the Word. Preach the Word, as you have done in
the past. The Lord Jesus has given you the promise of His Presence. Take it;
appreciate it. It is not for you or me to measure the appreciation shown for
the self-denial and self-sacrifice made.
The work of reform will call for all the faith and tears and prayers that
human intelligence can bear. Our commission is, Lift the cross, and bear it
after Jesus, striving ever for the same spirit that led Jesus to yearn for His
anticipated baptism of suffering upon the cross.
When in the garden of Gethsemane, the cup of suffering was placed in
the Saviour’s hand, the thought came to Him, Should He drink it or should
He leave the world to perish in sin? His suffering was too great for human
comprehension. As the agony of soul came upon Him, “His sweat was as
it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (
Luke 22:44
). The
mysterious cup trembled in His hand. In this awful crisis, when everything
was at stake, the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, came to the side
of Christ, not to take the cup from His hand, but to strengthen Him to drink
it, with the assurance of the Father’s love.
Christ drank of the cup, and this is the reason that sinners can come to
God and find pardon and grace. But those who share in Christ’s glory must
share also in His suffering....
Shall we take up the cross, and intelligently understand what it means to
follow Christ, practicing self-denial at every step?—
Letter 66, February 10,
1906
, to Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell.
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