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God’s Grace Gives Power to Overcome, March 16
The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
Titus 2:11
.
I am watching and waiting for the coming of my Lord. I have not only to
wait and watch and pray, but must work most diligently as well. Every action
of our lives, in our business transactions with our fellow men, is to be regulated
by the law of God, and we cannot then swerve from right and justice toward our
fellow men under any circumstance; for the Lord will not serve with any man’s
sins that would injure his neighbor. With our faces heavenward, breathing out our
petitions to God, developing an unselfish love for our fellow men, because we
have supreme love for Jesus Christ, who has bought them with His own blood, we
rise superior to the most grievous, subtle temptations. Humble dependence upon
God is our surety and our power. “My soul, wait thou upon God, who is the light
of my countenance and my God” (cf.
Psalm 62:5
;
43:5
)....
In every instance those with whom we associate are to be treated, if in humble
circumstances with great deference and respect, because they have so little to
make life happy, and because they need help. Souls are too precious to be trifled
with. They are God’s purchased possession. Those who are passed by as inferior,
the Lord will see set in high places, if they trust in Him.
The grace of God takes men as they are, and works as an educator, using every
principle on which an all-sided education depends. The steady influence of the
grace of God trains the soul after Christ’s methods, and every fierce passion, every
defective trait of character is worked upon by the molding influence of the spirit of
Christ, until new motive power becomes filled with the Holy Spirit of God, after
the likeness of the divine similitude.
Never forget that thoughts work out actions. Repeated actions form habits,
and habits form character. Then in giving attention to the little things, there is no
fear that the larger things will become stained and corrupted.
The Bible is to be the rule of life. It is marvelous in the eyes of the universe
of heaven that men who teach the Word do not always practice the truth. Few
realize what it means to be complete in Christ Jesus, the revealed will of God. His
Word is not dishonored by being brought into practical life to form habits which
will develop character.—
Letter 85, March 16, 1896
, to O. A. Olsen, General
Conference president.
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