Sabbath or Scholarship?

By Andrew McChesney

It was an offer that the Seventh-day Adventist girl could not refuse: a full scholarship to study at a private non-Christian school.

Image © Pacific Press

Malevelev, who grew up in an Adventist home, had been taught since she was young to remember God in all her decisions. The girl had planned to enter middle school at Taiwan Adventist Academy when she finished sixth grade, but then recruiters from the private school showed up in her village in the southern Kaohsiung region of Taiwan. They encouraged Malevelev and her parents, who belonged to the Rukai indigenous people group, to accept the full scholarship.

Tuition was high at Taiwan Adventist Academy, and it would be difficult for the parents to afford. They asked the girl to go to the private school.

During summer vacation, Malevelev visited the school and saw that she would be required to attend classes on Sabbath. She would not be able to go to church to worship God. A conflict erupted within her: Should she accept the full scholarship or keep the Sabbath? As she struggled with the decision, she remembered God. She knew that she should choose the Sabbath.

At the end of the summer, Malevelev’s parents insisted that she go to the private school. The girl felt dreadfully discouraged, and she prayed fervently.

“God, help me,” she prayed. “Show me what to do.”

Taking courage, she spoke kindly but firmly to her parents.

“I want to go to Taiwan Adventist Academy,” she said. “I will not go to classes on Sabbath because I want to go to church.”

She explained her desire to remain faithful to God by keeping all ten commandments, including the fourth, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8; NKJV).

“I don’t want to betray the truth taught by my grandfather,” she said.

Seeing the girl’s determination, her parents allowed her to study at Taiwan Adventist Academy.

Today, Malevelev has studied for five years at the school and is in the 11th grade.

“I’m very happy here,” she said. “I have wonderful teachers and classmates, and we are like a big family. More important, I have made many Christian friends. We have morning and evening worship together, we pray together, and we study together. I cherish every moment at the school. Although I don’t know what will happen in the future, I know that God will lead me and fulfill His wonderful plan for me.”

She is glad that she was taught from childhood to remember God always. Repeating Ecclesiastes 12:1, she said, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’”

“When you need to make an important decision, believe in God and choose according to His will and pleasure,” she said. “I encourage myself with this verse all the time. Now I am sharing my secret with you, and may God bless you.”

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

“If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new-covenant promise is fulfilled, ‘I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.’ Hebrews 10:16.

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And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? Obedience — the service and allegiance of love — is the true sign of discipleship. Thus the Scripture says, ‘This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.’ ‘He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’ 1 John 5:3; 1 John 2:4. Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience. …

The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes; for your vision will be clearer, and your imperfections will be seen in broad and distinct contrast to His perfect nature. This is evidence that Satan’s delusions have lost their power; that the vivifying influence of the Spirit of God is arousing you.

No deep-seated love for Jesus can dwell in the heart that does not realize its own sinfulness. The soul that is transformed by the grace of Christ will admire His divine character; but if we do not see our own moral deformity, it is unmistakable evidence that we have not had a view of the beauty and excellence of Christ.” — Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, Pages 60, 64, 65.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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You can view an in-depth discussion of Jesus, The Mediator of the New Covenant in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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Compare the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezekiel 36:26-27. How are they related?

The first covenant document was written by God on tablets of stone and was deposited in the ark of the covenant as an important witness of God’s covenant with His people (Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 10:1-4). Documents written in stone, however, could be broken; and scrolls, as Jeremiah had experienced, could be cut up and burned (Jeremiah 36:23).

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But in the new covenant God now will write His law in the hearts of the people. The heart refers to the mind, the organ of memory and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15, Deuteronomy 29:4), and especially to where conscious decisions are made (Jeremiah 3:10, Jeremiah 29:13).

This promise did not simply secure access to and knowledge of the law by everyone. It also, and more importantly, was to bring about a change in the heart of the nation. The problem of Israel was that their sin was engraved “with a pen of iron,” “with a point of diamond … on the tablet of their heart” (Jeremiah 17:1, NKJV). They had a stubborn heart (Jeremiah 13:10, Jeremiah 23:17); therefore, it was impossible for them to do the right thing (Jeremiah 13:23).

Jeremiah did not announce a change of the law, because the problem of Israel was not the law but the heart. God wanted Israel’s faithfulness to be a grateful response to what He had done for them; thus, He gave the Ten Commandments to them with an historical prologue expressing His love and care for them (Exodus 20:1-2). God wanted Israel to obey His laws as an acknowledgment that He wanted the best for them, a truth revealed in their great deliverance from Egypt. Their obedience was to be an expression of gratitude, a manifestation of the reality of their relationship.

The same is true today for us. Jesus’ love and care in dying for us is the prologue of the new covenant (Luke 22:20). True obedience comes from the heart as an expression of love (Matthew 22:34-40). This love is the distinguishing mark of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. God pours His love on us through His Spirit (Romans 5:5), which is expressed in love (Galatians 5:22).

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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We may be tempted to think that the new covenant has “better promises” in the sense that it has greater rewards than the old covenant had (a heavenly homeland, eternal life, etc.). The truth is that God offered the same rewards to Old Testament believers as He has offered us (read Hebrews 11:10, Hebrews 11:13-16). In Hebrews 8:6, the “better promises” is talking about different kinds of promises.

The covenant between God and Israel was a formal exchange of promises between God and Israel. God took the initiative and delivered Israel from Egypt and promised to lead them into the Promised Land.

Compare Exodus 24:1-8 and Hebrews 10:5-10. What are the similarities and differences between these two promises?

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The covenant between God and Israel was ratified with blood. This blood was sprinkled both over and beneath the altar. The people of Israel promised to obey all that the Lord had spoken.

“The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been, — just what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents, — perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized.” — Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 62.

God satisfies the absolute demands of the new covenant for us because He gave His own Son to come and live a perfect life so that the promises of the covenant might be fulfilled in Him, and then offered to us, by faith in Jesus. Jesus’ obedience guarantees the covenant promises (Hebrews 7:22). It requires that God gives Him the blessings of the covenant, which are then given to us. Indeed, those who are “in Christ” will enjoy those promises with Him. Secondly, God gives us His Holy Spirit to empower us to fulfill His law.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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