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God Requires the Whole Heart, June 10
I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and
to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou
mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land
whither thou goest to possess it.
Deuteronomy 30:16
.
Whenever persons are truly converted, their moral taste is changed. In all their
expenditures they will have a single purpose: [to] keep the glory of God in view, to
have a right influence in the church, and in all their actions to testify to worldlings
that they are children of God, that through faith they have been made partakers
of Christ’s self-denial, of His great love for perishing souls. They will constantly
be afraid that they will lift a worldly standard in the place of the banner of Jesus
Christ.
What an account will those in _____ have to give who have the Bible to guide
them as to the spirit and action they must have in order to lead souls out of darkness
to the path cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. How much money is
expended in order to follow the promptings and desires of a carnal heart, to please
and glorify self. How much means might flow into the Lord’s treasury that is
employed upon self. And in the judgment those poor tempted souls who have lived
to please themselves will see these things as God has estimated them. They will
see how they might have saved and helped, if they had not been so absorbed with
self. Everyone who has a knowledge of the truth has a work to do to come into
sympathy with Christ. “Ye are laborers together with God.” The salvation of the
soul is above every other interest. How much higher than every other enterprise is
measured by the cross of Calvary....
There is work given of God for everyone to do. There are to be no idle ones.
Not one is to be selfish and self-centered. It is very easy to become thus, and
Satan is constantly working that this selfish spirit shall be manifested by professed
Christians.
I wish I could make the church understand how terrible a thing it is to profess
to be Christians while, in the place of leading heavenward, their thoughts, their
actions, are of a character that suits the plans of Satan, for he can use them as
decoys to lead others away from true piety and earnest Christian work. Salt that
has lost its savor can never benefit the world. It is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men....
Who wears the armor of Jesus Christ? Who are marshaled under the banner
to work as faithful, well-disciplined soldiers? God has made us stewards, and
it is expected of a steward that he be found faithful.... God requires the whole
heart.—
Manuscript 10, June 10, 1892
, “Testimony to Battle Creek church.”
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