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Contentment, March 15
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content.
Philippians 4:11
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God has His faithful witnesses who are not attempting to do that which
Christ has pronounced impossible—that is, seeking to serve God and mam-
mon at the same time. They are burning and shining lights amid the moral
darkness of the world, and amid the gross darkness that covers the people like
the pall of death. The members of the church of Christ are individually to be
controlled by the Holy Spirit, in order that they may not have a changeable,
fluctuating experience. They are to be rooted and grounded in the truth.
When the joy of the saving power of Christ’s righteousness is rightly
understood by experimental knowledge, there will be vital interest in the
church, there will be those who will teach transgressors God’s ways, and
sinners will be converted to the truth as it is in Jesus. It is the professors of
religion that need converting; for Satan has brought his deceptions to bear
upon their souls.
The soul that is brought into personal contact with Christ becomes a
holy temple unto the Lord; for Jesus is made unto the believer wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He who has fully surrendered
to God has a consciousness of Christ’s saving presence. He is a possessor of
spiritual patience, and has the rest of soul that comes from learning of Him
who is meek and lowly of heart. Trusting in Jesus to be his efficiency and
righteousness, his soul is filled with a pleasant contentment.
What is the joy of the Christian? It is the result of the consciousness of
the presence of Christ. What is the love of the Christian? It is the reflection of
the love of Christ. It is the effect of the operation of the Holy Spirit. Looking
to the cross of Calvary, we see Jesus dying for the sins of the world, in order
that by His death, life and immortality might be brought to light in behalf
of the contrite soul. Jesus is all in all, and without Him we can do nothing.
Without Christ, spiritual life would be impossible.—
The Review and Herald,
December 4, 1894
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