Basic HTML Version
Chapter 38—The Importance of Seeking True
Knowledge
More clearly than we do we need to understand the issues at
stake in the great conflict in which we are engaged. We need to
understand more fully the value of the truths of the word of God and
the danger of allowing our minds to be diverted from them by the
great deceiver.
The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our redemption
reveals the fact that sin is a tremendous evil. Through sin the whole
human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination
corrupted. Sin has degraded the faculties of the soul. Temptations
from without find an answering chord within the heart, and the feet
turn imperceptibly toward evil.
As the sacrifice in our behalf was complete, so our restoration
from the defilement of sin is to be complete. No act of wickedness
will the law of God excuse; no unrighteousness can escape its con-
demnation. The ethics of the gospel acknowledge no standard but
the perfection of the divine character. The life of Christ was a perfect
fulfillment of every precept of the law. He said, “I have kept My
Father’s commandments.” His life is our example of obedience and
[452]
service. God alone can renew the heart. “It is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” But we are bidden,
“Work out your own salvation.”
John 15:10
;
Philippians 2:13, 12
.
The Work That Requires Our Thought
Wrongs cannot be righted, nor can reformations in conduct be
made by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Character building is the
work, not of a day, nor of a year, but of a lifetime. The struggle
for conquest over self, for holiness and heaven, is a lifelong strug-
gle. Without continual effort and constant activity, there can be no
advancement in the divine life, no attainment of the victor’s crown.
327