Purchased of God
[
Testimonies for the Church 2:354-359
(1869).]
“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s.”
1 Corinthians 6:19, 20
.
We are not our own. We have been purchased with a dear price,
even the sufferings and death of the Son of God. If we could under-
stand this and fully realize it, we would feel a great responsibility
resting upon us to keep ourselves in the very best condition of health,
that we might render to God perfect service. But when we take any
course which expends our vitality, decreases our strength, or beclouds
the intellect, we sin against God. In pursuing this course we are
not glorifying Him in our bodies and spirits which are His, but are
committing a great wrong in His sight.
Has Jesus given Himself for us? Has a dear price been paid to
redeem us? And is it so, that we are not our own? Is it true that all
the powers of our being, our bodies, our spirits, all that we have, and
all we are, belong to God? It certainly is. And when we realize this,
what obligation does it lay us under to God to preserve ourselves in
that condition that we may honor Him upon the earth in our bodies
and in our spirits which are His?
The Reward of Holiness
We believe without a doubt that Christ is soon coming. This is
not a fable to us; it is a reality. We have no doubt, neither have we
had a doubt for years, that the doctrines we hold today are present
truth, and that we are nearing the judgment. We are preparing to meet
[44]
Him who, escorted by a retinue of holy angels, is to appear in the
clouds of heaven to give the faithful and the just the finishing touch
of immortality. When He comes He is not to cleanse us of our sins,
to remove from us the defects in our character, or to cure us of the
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