72
Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White
this bitter cup can be sweetened by patience, endurance, and prayer,
and that it will have its designed effect upon the hearts of those who
thus receive it, and God will be honored and glorified.
It is no small thing to be a Christian, and to be owned and approved
of God. The Lord has shown me some who profess the present truth,
whose lives do not correspond with their profession. They have the
standard of piety altogether too low, and they come far short of Bible
holiness. Some engage in vain and unbecoming conversation, and
others give way to the risings of self. We must not expect to please
ourselves, live and act like the world, have its pleasures, and enjoy the
company of those who are of the world, and reign with Christ in glory.
We must be partakers of Christ’s sufferings here, if we would share
in His glory hereafter. If we seek our own interest, how we can best
please ourselves, instead of seeking to please God and advance His
precious, suffering cause, we shall dishonor God and the holy cause
we profess to love. We have but a little space of time left in which to
work for God. Nothing should be too dear to sacrifice for the salvation
of the scattered and torn flock of Jesus. Those who make a covenant
with God by sacrifice now, will soon be gathered home to share a rich
reward, and possess the new kingdom forever and ever.
[105]
Oh, let us live wholly for the Lord, and show by a well-ordered
life and godly conversation that we have been with Jesus, and are His
meek and lowly followers. We must work while the day lasts, for
when the dark night of trouble and anguish comes, it will be too late
to work for God. Jesus is in His holy temple, and will now accept our
sacrifices, our prayers, and our confessions of faults and sins, and will
pardon all the transgressions of Israel, that they may be blotted out
before He leaves the sanctuary. When Jesus leaves the sanctuary, then
they who are holy and righteous, will be holy and righteous still; for all
their sins will then be blotted out, and they will be sealed with the seal
of the living God. But those that are unjust and filthy, will be unjust
and filthy still; for then there will be no priest in the sanctuary to offer
their sacrifices, their confessions, and their prayers before the Father’s
throne. Therefore what is done to rescue souls from the coming storm
of wrath, must be done before Jesus leaves the most holy place of the
heavenly sanctuary.
[106]