Living Faith
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for one moment separate ourselves from Christ with safety. We may
have His presence to attend us at every step, but only by observing the
conditions which He has Himself laid down.
Make Religion a Business
Religion must be made the great business of life. Everything else
should be held subordinate to this. All our powers of soul, body, and
spirit, must be engaged in the Christian warfare. We must look to
Christ for strength and grace, and we shall gain the victory as surely
as Jesus died for us....
We must come nearer to the cross of Christ. Penitence at the foot
of the cross is the first lesson of peace we have to learn. The love
of Jesus—who can comprehend it? Infinitely more tender and self-
denying than a mother’s love! If we would know the value of a human
soul, we must look in living faith upon the cross, and thus begin the
study which shall be the science and the song of the redeemed through
all eternity. The value of our time and our talents can be estimated
only by the greatness of the ransom paid for our redemption. What
ingratitude do we manifest toward God when we rob Him of His own
by withholding from Him our affections and our service! Is it too much
to give ourselves to Him who has sacrificed all for us? Can we choose
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the friendship of the world before the immortal honors which Christ
proffers,—“to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and
am set down with My Father in His throne”?
Sanctification, a Progressive Experience
Sanctification is a progressive work. The successive steps are set
before us in the words of Peter: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and
to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these
things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither
be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an