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Aim High and Attempt Much for God, September 19
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not
found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this
testimony, that he pleased God.
Hebrews 11:5
, NKJV.
The Lord has a great work to be done, and He will bequeath the most in the
future life to those who do the most faithful, willing service in the present life. The
Lord chooses His own agents, and each day under different circumstances He gives
them a trial in His plan of operation. In each truehearted endeavor to work out His
plan, He chooses His agents not because they are perfect but because, through a
connection with Him, they may gain perfection.
God will accept only those who are determined to aim high. He places every
human agent under obligation to do his or her best. Moral perfection is required of
all. Never should we lower the standard of righteousness in order to accommodate
inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrongdoing. We need to understand that
imperfection of character is sin. All righteous attributes of character dwell in God
as a perfect, harmonious whole, and everyone who receives Christ as a personal
Savior is privileged to possess these attributes....
Let no one say, I cannot remedy my defects of character. If you come to this
decision, you will certainly fail of obtaining everlasting life. The impossibility lies
in your own will. If you will not, then you cannot overcome. The real difficulty
arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit
to the control of God.
Many whom God has qualified to do excellent work accomplish very little,
because they attempt little. Thousands pass through life as if they had no def-
inite object for which to live, no standard to reach. Such will obtain a reward
proportionate to their works....
Be ambitious, for the Master’s glory, to cultivate every grace of character. In
every phase of your character building you are to please God. This you may do; for
Enoch pleased Him though living in a degenerate age. And there are Enochs in this
our day.—
Christ’s Object Lessons, 330-332
.
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