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Study Christ’s Character And Become Like Him, February 20
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Matthew 6:24
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Halfhearted Christians obscure the glory of God, misinterpret piety, and cause
men to receive false ideas as to what constitutes vital godliness. Others think that
they, also, can be Christians and yet consult their own tastes and make provision
for the flesh, if these falsehearted professors can do so. On many a professed
Christian’s banner the motto is written, “You can serve God and please self—you
can serve God and mammon.” They profess to be wise virgins, but not having the
oil of grace in their vessels with their lamps, they shed forth no light to the glory
of God and for the salvation of men. They seek to do what the world’s Redeemer
said was impossible to do; He has declared, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Those who profess to be Christians, but do not follow in the footsteps of Christ,
make of none effect His words, and obscure the plan of salvation. By their spirit
and deportment they virtually say, “Jesus, in Your day You did not understand as
well as we do in our day, that man can serve God and mammon.” These professors
of religion claim to keep the law of God, but they do not keep it. Oh, what would
the standard of true manhood have become had it been left in the hands of man!
God has lifted His own standard—the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus; and the experience that follows complete surrender to God is righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.—
The Review and Herald, August 19, 1890
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You need not wait to grow good; you need not think that any effort of yours
will make your prayers acceptable, and bring you salvation. Let each man and
woman pray to God, not to man. Let each one come to Christ in humility.
You should pray to God for yourself, believing that He listens to every word
you utter. Lay bare your heart for His inspection, confess your sins, asking Him to
forgive you, pleading the merits of the atonement, and then by faith contemplate
the great scheme of redemption, and the Comforter will bring all things to your
remembrance.
The more you study the character of Christ, the more attractive will He appear
to you. He will become as one near you, in close companionship with you; your
affections will go out after Him. If the mind is molded by the objects with which
it has most to do, then to think of Jesus, to talk of Him, will enable you to become
like Him in spirit and character. You will reflect His image in that which is great
and pure and spiritual. You will have the mind of Christ, and He will send you
forth to the world as His spiritual representative.—
The Review and Herald, August
26, 1890
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