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Look Heavenward, January 1
They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:16
.
I wish you a happy new year. The old year with its burden of record has passed
into eternity. Now let every thought, every feeling be that of remembrance of
God’s love. Let us gather up one token after another....
The evidence we have of God’s care and love for us is expressed in the lessons
Christ gave to His disciples upon the things in nature.... The eye is not to be
fastened upon deformity, upon the curse, but upon the riches of the grace of Christ
that has been provided so abundantly, that we may live in this world, and act our
part in the great web of humanity, and yet not be of the world. As pilgrims, as
strangers looking for the bright things of God, the joy that is set before us, seeking
a city whose builder and maker is God, and by beholding the provisions made for
us, the mansions Jesus has gone to prepare for us, talking of the blessed home, we
forget the annoyances and the fretting cares of this life. We seem to breathe in the
very atmosphere of that better, even the heavenly country. We are soothed, we are
comforted; we are more than this, we are joyful in God.
We could not know that gracious purposes of God toward us, but for the
promises, for it is from them alone we learn what He has prepared for those who
love Him. As the flowers in God’s wise economy are constantly drawing the
properties from earth and air to develop into the pure and beautiful buds and
flowers and give forth their fragrance to delight the senses, so shall it be with us.
We draw from God’s promises all that peace, that comfort, that hope that will
develop in us the fruits of peace, joy, and faith. And by bringing these promises
into our own life we bring them always into the lives of others. Then let us
appropriate these promises to ourselves.... They are like the precious flowers in
the garden of God. They are to awaken our hope and expectation, and lead us to a
firm faith and reliance upon God. They are to strengthen us in trouble and teach
us precious lessons of trust in God. He in these precious promises draws back
from eternity and gives us a glimpse of the far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. Let us then be quiet in God. Let us calmly trust in Him and praise Him
that He has shown us such revelations of His will and purposes that we shall not
build our hopes in this life but keep the eye upward to the inheritance of light and
see and sense the amazing love of Jesus.—
Letter 27, January 1, 1886
, to Dr. and
Mrs. J. H. Kellogg.
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