Wednesday, August 11, 2010

We cannot be Christians while we live to please ourselves. We must enter in through the strait gate of self-denial, if we follow the Master . . .

Do whatever you can and the way will open before you. Every moment of time is golden. Souls out of Christ are to be persuaded to lay hold of the hope of the gospel. . . .

We are not to live in this world to please ourselves. We have stern, earnest work to do every day of our lives. We look by faith to the things that are unseen and in so doing we lose sight of the trials and hardships of the way. Heaven is our home. We dare not run any risk of losing the one hope we have cherished so long, of seeing Jesus as He is and of being made like Him. We hope you will guard your steps. Live the life of prayer and faith and win the unfading crown of glory.

There is no other way for any of us to be saved but that way wrought out by our Redeemer. He has, in His life on the earth, given us a practical illustration in self-denial and self-sacrifice of what He wishes us to be. "I came not," says Christ, "to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (see John 6:38).


We cannot be Christians while we live to please ourselves. We must enter in through the strait gate of self-denial, if we follow the Master. This strait, self-denying path is too narrow for many to walk in who profess godliness. They want an easier path and are climbing up some other way. They refuse to follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer. Christ calls all such thieves and robbers. They take the name of Christian, which does not belong to them, because they do not represent in their life the life of Christ. They claim the privileges which belong to the sons of God while they are none of His. They live selfish lives upon the earth and have done nothing for the truth and the salvation of souls as they ought to have done. Sad indeed for these self-deceived ones. They will never see heaven, because they are not willing to share the shame, the reproach, that Jesus suffered for them.

Dear children, let Christ be enshrined in your hearts and you will love all for whom Christ has died, and will do all you can to save them.--Letter 30, May 26, 1874, to her children. TDG 155


Prayer brings the heart into immediate contact with the Wellspring of life, and strengthens the sinew and muscle of the religious experience. Pr 13



“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14 (New King James Version)