Then let not a semblance of pride or self-importance be cherished, for it will crowd Jesus out of the heart, and the vacuum will be filled with the attributes of Satan....

Those who are Christ’s disciples will take the work where He left it and carry it forward in His name. They will copy the words, the spirit, the practices, of none but Him. Their eye is upon the Captain of their salvation. His will is their law. And as they advance, they catch more and clearer views of His countenance, of His character, of His glory. They do not cling to self, but hold fast His word, which is spirit and life. “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They reduce their knowledge of His will to practice. They hear and do the things that Jesus teaches.

In the church is work for all who love God and keep His commandments. The profession people may make is not certain evidence that they are Christians. The words they may speak give no surety that they are converted. Hear the words of Christ, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Unless the daily life conforms to the will and works of Christ, no one can establish a claim to be a child of God, an heir of heaven. There is a legal religion, which the Pharisees had, but such a religion does not give to the world a Christlike example; it does not represent Christ’s character. Those who have Christ abiding in the heart will work the works of Christ. Such are entitled to all the promises of His Word. Becoming one with Christ, they do the will of God and exhibit the riches of His grace. “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” Oh, precious promise! “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

In marked contrast to the murmuring and complaining of the wicked, the servants of God will sing: “I will praise thee with my whole heart.... Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” Then let not a semblance of pride or self-importance be cherished, for it will crowd Jesus out of the heart, and the vacuum will be filled with the attributes of Satan.—The Review and Herald, May 1, 1913. FH 323


In the excitement which then pervaded Capernaum there was danger that the object of His mission would be lost sight of. Jesus was not satisfied to attract attention to Himself merely as a wonder-worker or as a healer of physical disease. He was seeking to draw men to Him as their Saviour. While the people were eager to believe that He had come as a king to establish an earthly reign, He desired to turn their minds from the earthly to the spiritual. Mere worldly success would interfere with His work. MH 31



But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5 (King James Version)