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Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White
not receive the seal of God in their foreheads. They had the light of
truth, they knew their Master’s will, they understood every point of
our faith, but they had not corresponding works. These who were so
familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom, should
have acted their faith. They should have commanded their households
after them, that by a well-ordered family they might present to the
world the influence of the truth upon the human heart.
Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters
have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects
in our characters, to cleanse the soul-temple of every defilement. Then
the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples
on the day of Pentecost.
We are too easily satisfied with our attainments. We feel rich
and increased with goods, and know not that we are “wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
Revelation 3:17
. Now
is the time to heed the admonition of the True Witness: “I counsel
thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy
nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that
thou mayest see.”
Verse 18
.
In this life we must meet fiery trials and make costly sacrifices,
but the peace of Christ is the reward. There has been so little self-
denial, so little suffering for Christ’s sake, that the cross is almost
entirely forgotten. We must be partakers with Christ of His sufferings,
if we would sit down in triumph with Him on His throne. So long
as we choose the easy path of self-indulgence, and are frightened at
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self-denial, our faith will never become firm, and we cannot know the
peace of Jesus, nor the joy that comes through conscious victory. The
most exalted of the redeemed host that stand before the throne of God
and the Lamb, clad in white, know the conflict of overcoming, for they
have come up through great tribulation. Those who have yielded to
circumstances rather than engage in this conflict, will not know how to
stand in that day when anguish will be upon every soul, when, though
Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could save neither son nor
daughter, for everyone must deliver his soul by his own righteousness.
No one need say that his case is hopeless, that he cannot live the
life of a Christian. Ample provision is made by the death of Christ
for every soul. Jesus is our ever-present help in time of need. Only