Chapter 62—Family Religion
I have been shown the high and responsible position which God’s
people should occupy. They are the salt of the earth and the light of
the world, and they must walk even as Christ walked. They will come
up through great tribulation. The present is a time of warfare and trial.
Our Saviour says in
Revelation 3:21
: “To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am
set down with My Father in His throne.” The reward is not given to
all who profess to be followers of Christ, but to those who overcome
even as He overcame. We must study the life of Christ and learn what
it is to confess Him before the world.
In order to confess Christ, we must have Him to confess. No one
can truly confess Christ unless the mind and spirit of Christ are in
him. If a form of godliness, or an acknowledgment of the truth, were
always a confession of Christ, we might say: Broad is the way that
leadeth unto life, and many there be that find it. We must understand
what it is to confess Christ and wherein we deny Him. It is possible
with our lips to confess Christ yet in our works deny Him. The fruits
of the Spirit manifested in the life are a confession of Him. If we
have forsaken all for Christ, our lives will be humble, our conversation
heavenly, our conduct blameless. The powerful, purifying influence of
truth in the soul, and the character of Christ exemplified in the life, are
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a confession of Him. If the words of eternal life are sown in our hearts,
the fruit is righteousness and peace. We may deny Christ in our life
by indulging love of ease or love of self, by jesting and joking, and
by seeking the honor of the world. We may deny Him in our outward
appearance by conformity to the world, by a proud look or costly
apparel. Only by constant watchfulness and persevering and almost
unceasing prayer shall we be able to exhibit in our life the character of
Christ or the sanctifying influence of the truth. Many drive Christ from
their families by an impatient, passionate spirit. Such have something
to overcome in this respect.
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