God expects those who bear the name of Christ to represent Him.... They are to be a sanctified, purified, holy people, communicating light to all with whom they come in contact....
The followers of Christ are to be separate from the world in principles and interests, but they are not to isolate themselves from the world. The Saviour mingled constantly with men, not to encourage them in anything that was not in accordance with God's will, but to uplift and ennoble them. “I sanctify myself,” He declared, “that they also might be sanctified.” John 17:19. So the Christian is to abide among men, that the savor of divine love may be as salt to preserve the world from corruption....
The power of a higher, purer, nobler life is our great need. The world is watching to see what fruit is borne by professed Christians.... Impressions favorable or unfavorable to Bible religion are constantly being made on the minds of all with whom we have to do.
And God and the angels are watching. God desires His people to show by their lives the advantage of Christianity over worldliness, to show that they are working on a high, holy plane. He longs to see them showing that the truth they have received has made them children of the heavenly King. He longs to make them channels through which He can pour His boundless love and mercy.
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of the Saviour shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim His own. It is the privilege of every Christian, not only to look for, but to hasten, the coming of our Lord. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel! Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come.28Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 322-324. Mar 112
Many are the figures by which the Spirit of God has sought to illustrate this truth, and make it plain to souls that long to be freed from the burden of guilt. When, after his sin in deceiving Esau, Jacob fled from his father's home, he was weighed down with a sense of guilt. Lonely and outcast as he was, separated from all that had made life dear, the one thought that above all others pressed upon his soul, was the fear that his sin had cut him off from God, that he was forsaken of Heaven. In sadness he lay down to rest on the bare earth, around him only the lonely hills, and above, the heavens bright with stars. As he slept, a strange light broke upon his vision; and lo, from the plain on which he lay, vast shadowy stairs seemed to lead upward to the very gates of heaven, and upon them angels of God were passing up and down; while from the glory above, the divine voice was heard in a message of comfort and hope. Thus was made known to Jacob that which met the need and longing of his soul—a Saviour. With joy and gratitude he saw revealed a way by which he, a sinner, could be restored to communion with God. The mystic ladder of his dream represented Jesus, the only medium of communication between God and man. SC 19
Maintain good conduct
among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as
wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of
visitation. 1 Peter 2:12, R.S.V.