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Importance of Seeking True Knowledge
329
mony with inborn inclination. Hereditary and cultivated tendencies
to evil must be overcome. Often the education and training of a
lifetime must be discarded, that one may become a learner in the
school of Christ. Our hearts must be educated to become steadfast
in God. We are to form habits of thought that will enable us to
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resist temptation. We must learn to look upward. The principles of
the word of God—principles that are as high as heaven, and that
compass eternity—we are to understand in their bearing upon our
daily life. Every act, every word, every thought, is to be in accord
with these principles. All must be brought into harmony with, and
subject to, Christ.
The precious graces of the Holy Spirit are not developed in a
moment. Courage, fortitude, meekness, faith, unwavering trust in
God’s power to save, are acquired by the experience of years. By a
life of holy endeavor and firm adherence to the right the children of
God are to seal their destiny.
No Time to Lose
We have no time to lose. We know not how soon our probation
may close. At the longest, we have but a brief lifetime here, and we
know not how soon the arrow of death may strike our hearts. We
know not how soon we may be called to give up the world and all
its interests. Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be
lifted. But a few short years, and for everyone now numbered with
the living the mandate will go forth:
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: ... and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be
holy still.”
Revelation 22:11
.
Are we prepared? Have we become acquainted with God, the
Governor of heaven, the Lawgiver, and with Jesus Christ whom He
sent into the world as His representative? When our lifework is
ended, shall we be able to say, as did Christ our example:
“I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work
which Thou gavest Me to do.... I have manifested Thy name”?
John
17:4-6
.
The angels of God are seeking to attract us from ourselves and
from earthly things. Let them not labor in vain.
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