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unkind thought, every feeling of envy or self-importance! Let your
life be filled with the ministry of kindness to others. How soon you
may be called to lay off the armor, you know not. Death may claim
you suddenly, giving you no time to prepare for your last change, no
physical strength or mental power to fix your thoughts on God and
make your peace with Him. Some, erelong, will know by experience
how vain is the help of man, how worthless is the self-important,
self-sufficient righteousness which has satisfied them.
I feel urged by the Spirit of the Lord to tell you that now is your
day of privilege, of trust, of blessing. Will you improve it? Are you
working for the glory of God, or for selfish interests? Are you keeping
before your mind’s eye brilliant prospects of worldly success, whereby
you may obtain self-gratification and financial gain? If so, you will be
most bitterly disappointed. But if you seek to live a pure and holy life,
to learn daily in the school of Christ the lessons that He has invited
you to learn, to be meek and lowly in heart, then you have a peace
which no worldly circumstances can change.
A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. Uneasiness, dissatisfaction,
and restlessness reveal the absence of the Saviour. If Jesus is brought
into the life, that life will be filled with good and noble works for the
Master. You will forget to be self-serving, and will live closer and
still closer to the dear Saviour; your character will become Christlike,
and all around you will take knowledge that you have been with Jesus
and learned of Him. Each one possesses in himself the source of his
own happiness or wretchedness. If he will, he may rise above the low,
sentimental feeling which makes up the experience of many; but so
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long as he is self-inflated, the Lord can do nothing for him. Satan will
present ambitious projects to daze the senses, but we must ever keep
before us “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus.” Crowd all the good works you possibly can into this life. “They
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they
that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
If our lives are filled with holy fragrance, if we honor God by hav-
ing good thoughts toward others, and doing good deeds to bless others,
it matters not whether we live in a cottage or a palace. Circumstances
have but little to do with the experiences of the soul. It is the spirit
cherished which gives coloring to all our actions. A man at peace with
God and his fellow men cannot be made miserable. Envy will not