But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap. Malachi 3:2.
Those who profess to be sons and daughters of God should represent Him in character…. Opportunity is now given us to form characters that will fit us for an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Those who keep the commandments of God will have a right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city. In love, God has given us a law, that we may know and put away those traits of character that cannot be tolerated in heaven. No one can enter there to whom is charged robbery, adultery, evil-speaking, or false dealing, for this would lead to another war in heaven. The law of God was given to lead men away from these practices, that their characters might be fashioned after the character of God.
To follow the ever-changing fashions of this world is the chief study of many today. Should we not be as diligent to fashion our characters after the pattern given us in the Word of God? Do not think that you can conform to the world now, [laying] up your treasures here below, and then, merely because you have made a profession of faith, be among those who enter the City of God. We cannot be in harmony with the laws that govern the kingdom of heaven, unless we first conform to those laws here below. It is high time for us all to give our hearts unreservedly to God, and serve Him intelligently, as obedient children. His Holy Spirit can mold and fashion us after the divine similitude. UL 105.3
The members of the heavenly family are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ—heirs to the treasures of heaven. They will not follow the ambition and madness of this world, to heap up treasures here below, at the loss of a Christian character that would insure them a life that measures with the life of God—a life free from sin, sickness, sorrow, and death.
Many are today being led away from the simplicity of true religion by the study of so-called science. There is a true science, the science of eternal life. When Jesus came to our world, He might have opened to the minds of men a vast storehouse of scientific knowledge. But He did not do this. He devoted His life to the teaching of those truths that pertain to the salvation of the soul….
God has claims upon every power of our being. His service demands the action of the whole man—all the heart, all the soul, all the strength, and all the mind. How to render this complete service to God is the only subject of any value in this life.—Manuscript 38a, April 1, 1905, “Who May Abide the Day of His Coming?”
The Upward Look p. 105
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Neal who had a stroke that he will recover completely. Mike
—-Pls pray for my son Lee. Today he is taking his final in Calculus II this is for his Engineering degree and is going to be a tough challenge for him. He is a diligent student and has been studying hard. Pls pray for him to recall what he needs to remember and for a calm spirit while testing. Pls pray for my niece Tiffanie also who started a new job as a correctional office and has been tough on her. Donnell
—-Please pray for my friend Rhonda. For her ankle to be healed and for her to be hired at the best job. Jenny
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Dear Friends,
When my mother was about 10, she and her little sister were watching their mother getting the dessert ready to serve. As she saw her mother laying a slice of cake and a scoop of ice cream on one of the plates that she was sure was for her little sister, my mother asked, “All of that for her?” My grandmother said, “No, dear, this is for you.” My mother exclaimed, “Oh, what a little bit.”
My grandmother chuckled over that funny, little memory all of her life, but it is no laughing matter when we always think we deserve the biggest and best for ourselves. How often, we are like the Pharisees, who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” Jesus speaks of this, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14
How many times we selfishly hold on to our blessings, not realizing that by doing so we become glutted and stagnant and good for nothing. We spend our pitifully short life amassing all of the wealth that we can, and forget that our life is as “a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:14 Our Dear Saviour reminds us, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-19
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matt 6:19-24
How unlike Christ Jesus our Lord, we are “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil 2:6-8 Think of it! The Great Creator of the Universe, He, Whom all Heaven adores, left the glories of that place and came down to this dark and sinful world to live a perfect life amidst a faithless and perverse generation, and died the most painful of deaths because of His great love for even those who hated Him for His goodness.
Knowing of His great sacrifice for us, how can we be indifferent? How can we be selfish and self-centered? How can we be looking around at others and thinking that we are better than they and more disserving of God’s great blessings? How often we get so busy beholding the mote that is in our brother’s eye, that we forget to consider the beam that is in our own eye? How many times we say to our brother, “Let me pull out the mote out of you eye,” but we fail to remove that beam is in our own eye? With tears in His voice, our Loving Redeemer says, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matt 6:1-5)
May we “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling.” May we set self aside and be loving and kind as is our Dear Saviour. May we, in lowliness of mind, each esteem others better than themselves. Phil 2:12, 3