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Chapter 15
185
believer chooses Christ as first, and last, and best in everything. But
[1144]
this union costs us something. It is a relation of utter dependence to
be entered into by a proud being. All who form this union must feel
their need of the atoning blood of Christ. They must have a change
of heart. They must submit their own will to the will of God. There
will be a struggle with outward and internal obstacles. There must
be a painful work of detachment, as well as a work of attachment.
Pride, selfishness, vanity, worldliness—sin in all its forms—must be
overcome, if we would enter into a union with Christ. The reason
why many find the Christian life so deplorably hard, why they are so
fickle, so variable, is, they try to attach themselves to Christ without
detaching themselves from these cherished idols....
Believers become one in Christ; but one branch cannot be sus-
tained by another. The nourishment must be obtained through vital
connection with the Vine. We must feel our utter dependence on
Christ. We must live by faith in the Son of God. That is the meaning
of the injunction, “Abide in me.” The life we live in the flesh is not
to the will of men, not to please our Lord’s enemies, but to serve
and honor Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us. A mere
assent to this union, while the affections are not detached from the
world, its pleasures and its dissipations, only emboldens the heart in
disobedience (
The Signs of the Times, November 29, 1910
).
God Makes No Compromise
—Until the heart is surrendered
unconditionally to God, the human agent is not abiding in the True
Vine, and cannot flourish in the Vine, and bear rich clusters of fruit.
God will not make the slightest compromise with sin. If He could
have done this, Christ need not have come to our world to suffer
and die. No conversion is genuine which does not change both the
character and the conduct of those who accept the truth. The truth
works by love, and purifieth the soul (
Letter 31a, 1894
).
4, 5
. See
EGW comment on Matthew 11:29
.
5 (See
EGW comment on 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
). The Circu-
lation of Life
—Christ alone can help us and give us the victory.
Christ must be all in all to us, He must dwell in the heart, His life
must circulate through us as the blood circulates through the veins.
His spirit must be a vitalizing power that will cause us to influence
others to become Christlike and holy (
Letter 43, 1895
).