Second Letter of Counsel to a Missionary in Africa
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one has anything beyond that which God gives him. All that he has,
his time, his ability, his strength, given him in trust by God, has been
bought with a price. A ransom has been paid which includes every son
and daughter of Adam. The precious blood of Christ has been given
to redeem man from earthliness, from sensuality, from all spiritual
and physical uncleanness. This is the covenant God has made with
His people. They are to be His chosen ones. Those who truly receive
Christ will not yield to any other claim, even for a moment, which
would strengthen the powers hostile to righteousness and truth. They
put on the yoke of Christ, devoting themselves unreservedly to Christ
for all time. They are pledged to obey the commandment of God, even
should every other member of the human family refuse obedience and
become disloyal.
He who receives Christ by faith is a member of the royal family, a
child of the heavenly King, an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus
Christ. His lot is a part of the cross of Christ. He is bound up with
Christ for life and for death in the great plan of redemption. The full
and entire renunciation of self that appeared in Christ appears also
in him who is consecrated to Christ’s service. He shows Christlike
tenderness by speaking kind, gentle words, words which are full of
comfort and hope and love. He is filled with an untold solicitude for
human souls. He can say, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
He is willing to make any sacrifice to draw lost, perishing souls to the
cross of Christ.
Remember that with God there is no caste or nationality, no di-
visions or parties. Truth never places her delicate feet in a path of
uncleanness or impurity. Truth does not bring people down to a low
level, but brings all up to a high, exalted level. Truth never makes
men or women coarse, or rough, or uncourteous. It takes men in all
their sin and commonness, separates them from the world, and refines
their tastes, even if they are poor and uneducated. Under Christ’s
discipline a constant work of refinement goes on, sanctifying them
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through the truth. If they are tempted to exert one particle of influence
that would lead away from Christ into the way of the world, in pride,
or fashion, or display, they speak words of resistance that will turn
aside the enemy’s power. “I am not my own,” they say, “I am bought
with a price. I am a son, a daughter of God. I cannot possibly give
God more than He claims. All is His, by creation and by redemption.