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Not in “My Own Way,” December 7, December 7
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Romans 8:15
.
The work of sanctification begins in the heart, and we must come into
such a relation with God, that Jesus can put His divine mold upon us. We
must be emptied of self in order to give room to Jesus, but how many have
their hearts so filled with idols that they have no room for the Redeemer of
the world. The world holds the hearts of men in captivity. They center their
thoughts and affections upon their business, their position, their family. They
hold to their opinions and ways, and cherish them as idols in the soul; but
we cannot afford to yield ourselves to the service of self, holding to our own
ways and ideas, and excluding the truth of God.
We must be emptied of self. But this is not all that is required; for when
we have renounced our idols, the vacuum must be supplied. If the heart
is left desolate, and the vacuum not supplied, it will be in the condition of
him whose house was “empty, swept, and garnished” (
Matthew 12:44
), but
without a guest to occupy it. The evil spirit took unto himself seven other
spirits more wicked than himself, and they entered in and dwelt there; and
the last state of that man was worse than the first....
You may feel that you cannot meet the approval of heaven. You may say,
“I was born with a natural tendency toward this evil, and I cannot overcome.”
But every provision has been made by our heavenly Father whereby you may
be able to overcome every unholy tendency. You are to overcome even as
Christ overcame in your behalf. He says, “To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
with my Father in his throne” (
Revelation 3:21
). It was sin that imperiled the
human family; and before man was created the provision was made that if
man failed to bear the test, Jesus would become His sacrifice and surety, that
through faith in Him, man might be reconciled to God, for Christ was the
Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world” (
Revelation 13:8
). Christ died
on Calvary that man might have power to overcome his natural tendencies to
sin.
But one says, “Can I not have my own way, and act myself?” No, you
cannot have your way, and enter the kingdom of heaven. No “my way” will
be there. No human ways will find place in the kingdom of heaven. Our ways
must be lost in God’s ways.—
The Review and Herald, February 23, 1892
.
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