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Not Guided by Emotions, April 22
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105
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Sanctification is not a happy flight of feeling, not the work of an instant,
but the work of a lifetime. If anyone claims that the Lord has sanctified him,
and made him holy, the proof of his claim to the blessing will be seen in the
fruits of meekness, patience, long-suffering, truthfulness, and love. If the
blessing that those who claim to be sanctified have received leads them to rely
upon some particular emotion, and they declare there is no need of searching
the Scriptures that they may know God’s revealed will, then the supposed
blessing is a counterfeit, for it leads its possessors to place value on their own
unsanctified emotions and fancies, and to close their ears to the voice of God
in His Word.
Why need those who claim they have had special manifestations of the
Spirit, and the witness that their sins are all forgiven, conclude that they can
lay the Bible aside, and from henceforth walk alone? When we ask those
who claim to have been instantaneously sanctified, if they are searching the
Scriptures as Jesus told them to do, to see if there is not additional truth for
them to accept, they answer, “God makes known His will to us directly in
special signs and revelations, and we can afford to lay the Bible aside.”
There are thousands who are being deceived by trusting to some special
emotion, and discarding the Word of God. They are not building upon the
only safe and sure foundation—the Word of God. A religion that is addressed
to intelligent creatures will produce reasonable evidences of its genuineness,
for there will be marked results in heart and character. The grace of Christ
will be made manifest in their daily conduct. We may safely ask those who
profess to be sanctified, Do the fruits of the Spirit appear in your life? Do you
manifest the meekness and lowliness of Christ, and reveal the fact that you
are learning daily in the school of Christ, shaping your life after the pattern
of His unselfish life?
The best evidence that any of us can have of our connection with the God
of heaven is that we keep His commandments. The best proof of faith in
Christ is distrust of self and dependence upon God. The only reliable proof of
our abiding in Christ is to reflect His image. Just so far as we do this we give
evidence that we are sanctified through the truth, for the truth is exemplified
in our daily life.—
The Signs of the Times, February 28, 1895
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