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Testimonies for the Church Volume 7
aid of Christ. You may struggle hard and long to subdue self, but you
will fail unless you receive strength from on high. By the grace of
Christ you can gain the victory over self and selfishness. As you live
His life, showing self-sacrifice at every step, constantly revealing a
stronger sympathy for those in need of help, you will gain victory after
victory. Day by day you will learn better how to conquer self and how
to strengthen your weak points of character. The Lord Jesus will be
your light, your strength, your crown of rejoicing, because you yield
your will to His will.
Men and women may reach God’s ideal for them if they will take
Christ as their Helper. Make an unreserved surrender to God. To know
that you are striving for eternal life will strengthen and comfort you.
Christ can give you power to overcome. By His help you can utterly
destroy the root of selfishness.
Christ died that the life of man might be bound up with His life in
the union of divinity and humanity. He came to our world and lived
a divine-human life, in order that the lives of men and women might
be as harmonious as God designs them to be. The Saviour calls upon
you to deny self and take up the cross. Then nothing will prevent the
development of the whole being. The daily experience will reveal
healthy, harmonious action.
Remember, my dear brother and sister, that God is love and that
by His grace you can succeed in making each other happy, as in
your marriage pledge you promised to do. And in the strength of the
Redeemer you can work with wisdom and power to help some crooked
life to be straight in God. What is there that Christ cannot do? He is
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perfect in wisdom, in righteousness, in love. Do not shut yourselves up
to yourselves, satisfied to pour out all your affection upon each other.
Seize every opportunity to contribute to the happiness of those around
you, sharing with them your affection. Words of kindness, looks of
sympathy, expressions of appreciation, would to many a struggling,
lonely one be as a cup of cold water to a thirsty soul. A word of
cheer, an act of kindness, would go far to lighten the burdens that are
resting heavily upon weary shoulders. It is in unselfish ministry that
true happiness is found. And every word and deed of such service is
recorded in the books of heaven as done for Christ. “Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren,” He declares,
“ye have done it unto Me.”
Matthew 25:40
.