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The Acts of the Apostles
The lesson applies to believers in every age. “By their fruits ye
shall know them.”
Matthew 7:20
. The inward adorning of a meek and
quiet spirit is priceless. In the life of the true Christian the outward
adorning is always in harmony with the inward peace and holiness.
“If any man will come after Me,” Christ said, “let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24
. Self-denial
and sacrifice will mark the Christian’s life. Evidence that the taste is
converted will be seen in the dress of all who walk in the path cast up
for the ransomed of the Lord.
It is right to love beauty and to desire it; but God desires us to
love and seek first the highest beauty, that which is imperishable. No
outward adorning can compare in value or loveliness with that “meek
and quiet spirit,” the “fine linen, white and clean” (
Revelation 19:14
),
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which all the holy ones of earth will wear. This apparel will make
them beautiful and beloved here, and will hereafter be their badge of
admission to the palace of the King. His promise is, “They shall walk
with Me in white: for they are worthy.”
Revelation 3:4
.
Looking forward with prophetic vision to the perilous times into
which the church of Christ was to enter, the apostle exhorted the
believers to steadfastness in the face of trial and suffering. “Beloved,”
he wrote, “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you.”
Trial is part of the education given in the school of Christ, to purify
God’s children from the dross of earthliness. It is because God is
leading His children that trying experiences come to them. Trials and
obstacles are His chosen methods of discipline, and His appointed
conditions of success. He who reads the hearts of men knows their
weaknesses better than they themselves can know them. He sees that
some have qualifications which, if rightly directed, could be used in
the advancement of His work. In His providence He brings these
souls into different positions and varied circumstances, that they may
discover the defects that are concealed from their own knowledge. He
gives them opportunity to overcome these defects and to fit themselves
for service. Often He permits the fires of affliction to burn, that they
may be purified.
God’s care for His heritage is unceasing. He suffers no affliction
to come upon His children but such as is essential for their present
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and eternal good. He will purify His church, even as Christ purified