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Happiness in Obedience, October 12
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son.
Colossians 1:12, 13
.
Our future eternal happiness depends upon having our humanity, with
all its capabilities and powers, brought into obedience to God and placed
under the control of Divinity. Many have no faith in Jesus Christ. They
say, “It was easy for Christ to obey the will of His Father, for He was
divine.” But His Word declares He was “in all points tempted like as we
are” (
Hebrews 4:15
). He was tempted according to and in proportion to His
elevation of mind, but He would not weaken or cripple His divine power
by yielding to temptation. In His life on earth Christ was a representative
of what humanity may be through the privileges and opportunities granted
them in Him....
When Satan tempted our first parents ... he tried to flatter them into
believing that they should be raised above the sphere of humanity. But
Christ, by the example He has set before us, encourages the members of
the human family to be men, obeying the Word of God within the sphere
of their humanity. He Himself became a man—not a bondslave to Satan to
work out his attributes, but a man in moral power, obedient to the law of
God, which is a transcript of His character. Those who would rebel against
subjection to a wise and good law emanating from God are slaves to an
apostate power.
Jesus became a man that He might mediate between man and God,
... that He might restore to man the original mind which he lost in Eden
through Satan’s alluring temptation.... Disobedience is not in accordance
with the nature which God gave to man in Eden.
Through the moral power Christ has brought to man, we may give
thanks unto God who hath made us meet for the inheritance with the saints
in light. Through Jesus Christ every man may overcome in his own behalf
and on his own account, standing in his own individuality of character
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Letter 121, 1897
.
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