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Selected Messages Book 1
fervently, believe more fully, and try again with more steadfastness to
grow into the likeness of our Lord. As we distrust our own power, we
shall trust the power of our Redeemer, and render praise to God, who
is the health of our countenance, and our God.
Wherever there is union with Christ there is love. Whatever other
fruits we may bear, if love be missing, they profit nothing. Love to
God and our neighbor is the very essence of our religion. No one
can love Christ and not love His children. When we are united to
Christ, we have the mind of Christ. Purity and love shine forth in the
character, meekness and truth control the life. The very expression
of the countenance is changed. Christ abiding in the soul exerts a
transforming power, and the outward aspect bears witness to the peace
and joy that reign within. We drink in the love of Christ, as the branch
draws nourishment from the vine. If we are grafted in Christ, if fiber
by fiber we have been united with the Living Vine, we shall give
evidence of the fact by bearing rich clusters of living fruit. If we are
connected with the Light, we shall be channels of light, and in our
words and works we shall reflect light to the world. Those who are
truly Christians are bound with the chain of love which links earth
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to heaven, which binds finite man to the infinite God. The light that
shines in the face of Jesus Christ shines in the hearts of His followers,
to the glory of God.
By beholding we are to become changed; and as we meditate upon
the perfections of the divine Model, we shall desire to become wholly
transformed, and renewed in the image of His purity. It is by faith in
the Son of God that transformation takes place in the character, and the
child of wrath becomes the child of God. He passes from death unto
life; he becomes spiritual and discerns spiritual things. The wisdom of
God enlightens his mind, and he beholds wondrous things out of His
law. As a man is converted by the truth, the work of transformation of
character goes on. He has an increased measure of understanding. In
becoming a man of obedience to God, he has the mind of Christ, and
the will of God becomes his will.
He who places himself unreservedly under the guidance of the
Spirit of God, will find that his mind expands and develops. He ob-
tains an education in the service of God which is not one-sided and
deficient, developing a one-sided character, but one which results in
symmetry and completeness. Weaknesses that have been manifested in