46
Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2
Of Him you are to ask: What is right? What is wrong? How may I
best fulfill the purpose of my creation? “Know ye not that ye are not
your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (
1 Corinthians 6:19,
20
).
Your love for that which is human is to be secondary to your love
for God. The wealth of your affection is to flow forth to Him who
gave His life for you. Living for God, the soul sends forth to Him its
best and highest affections. Is the greatest outflow of your love toward
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Him who died for you? If it is, your love for each other will be after
heaven’s order.—
Testimonies for the Church 7:45, 46
(1902).
We have an individuality of our own, and the wife’s individuality
is never to be sunk into that of her husband.—MS 12, 1895.
Consecration Beautifies Individuality—A life consecrated to the
service of God will be developed and beautified in its individuality.
No person can sink his individuality in that of another, but we are all,
as individuals, to be grafted into the one parent stock, and there is to
be unity in diversity. The great Master Artist has not made two leaves
of the same tree precisely alike; so His creative power does not give to
all minds the same likeness. They are created to live through ceaseless
ages, and there is to be complete unity, mind blending with mind; but
no two are to be of the same mold.—MS 116, 1898.
God Gives to Each an Individual Work—Things in the natural
world are to be considered and their lesson applied to the spiritual
life, the spiritual growth. To every man God—not man—has given his
work. This is an individual work—the formation of a character after
the divine similitude. The lily is not to strive to be like the rose. There
are distinctions in the formation of the flowers and in the fruits, but
all derive their peculiar variance from God. All are the Lord’s. So it
is God’s design that even the best of men shall not all be of the same
character.—MS 116, 1898.
Respect Each Other—We each have a work to do. We may be
of different nationalities, but we are to be one in Christ. If we allow
peculiarities of character and disposition to separate us here, how can
we hope to live together in heaven? We are to cherish love and respect
for one another. There is to be among us the unity for which Christ
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prayed. We have been bought with a price, and we are to glorify God
in our bodies and in our spirits.—MS 20, 1905.