Examine Yourselves
79
The world is no more favorable today for the development of
Christian character than in Noah’s day. Then wickedness was so
widespread that God said, “I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.... Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (
Genesis
6:7-9
). Yes, amid the corruption of that degenerate age, Noah was a
pleasure to his Creator.
We are living in the last days of this earth’s history, in an age of
sin and corruption, and like Noah we are to so live that we shall be a
pleasure to God, showing forth the praises of Him “who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (
1 Peter 2:9
). In the
prayer which Christ offered to His Father just before His crucifixion,
He said, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (
John 17:15
).
The Highest Service
When men and women have formed characters which God can
endorse, when their self-denial and self-sacrifice have been fully made,
when they are ready for the final test, ready to be introduced into God’s
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family, what service will stand highest in the estimation of Him who
gave Himself a willing offering to save a guilty race? What enterprise
will be most dear to the heart of infinite love? What work will bring the
greatest satisfaction and joy to the Father and the Son?—The salvation
of perishing souls. Christ died to bring to men the saving power of the
gospel. Those who cooperate with Him in carrying forward His great
enterprise of mercy, laboring with all the strength God has given them
to save those nigh and afar off, will share in the joy of the Redeemer
when the redeemed host stand around the throne of God.
God has entrusted means and capabilities to His servants for the
doing of a work far higher than that which today He looks upon.
“O,” said the heavenly messenger, “the Lord’s institutions are
terribly behind the greatness of the truths which are being fulfilled
at the present time. There is a fearful misconception of the claims
of duty. The frosty atmosphere in which believers are content to live