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Temper Is Subdued, February 15
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him
shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
James 3:13
.
Meekness in the school of Christ is one of the marked fruits of the Spirit. It
is a grace wrought by the Holy Spirit as a sanctifier, and enables its possessor
at all times to control a rash and impetuous temper. When the grace of
meekness is cherished by those who are naturally sour or hasty in disposition,
they will put forth the most earnest efforts to subdue their unhappy temper.
Every day they will gain self-control, until that which is unlovely and unlike
Jesus is conquered. They become assimilated to the divine Pattern, until they
can obey the inspired injunction, “Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
wrath” (
James 1:19
).
When a man professes to be sanctified, and yet in words and works may
be represented by the impure fountain sending forth its bitter waters, we may
safely say, that man is deceived. He needs to learn the very alphabet of what
constitutes the life of a Christian. Some who profess to be servants to Christ
have so long cherished the demon of unkindness that they seem to love the
unhallowed element, and to take pleasure in speaking words that displease
and irritate. These men must be converted, before Christ will acknowledge
them as His children.
Meekness is the inward adorning, which God estimates as of great price.
The apostle speaks of this as more excellent and valuable than gold, or pearls,
or costly array. While the outward adorning beautifies only the mortal body,
the ornament of meekness adorns the soul, and connects finite man with the
infinite God. This is the ornament of God’s own choice. He who garnished
the heavens with the orbs of light has by the same Spirit promised that He
will “beautify the meek with salvation” (
Psalm 149:4
). Angels of heaven
will register as best adorned, those who put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
walk with Him in meekness and lowliness of mind.—
The Review and Herald,
January 18, 1881
.
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