Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8.

The pure in heart shall see God. While all shall behold Christ as a judge, the pure in heart shall behold Him as a friend; for Jesus has said, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” The pure in heart shall see Christ as a friend and elder brother. Those who are constantly looking unto Christ for His counsel, who pray in sincerity for His Holy Spirit, will be grieved if a cloud hides Him from their sight….

The Christian world in this age are inclined to accept the sophistries of Satan in the place of the words of God. Many have separated themselves from God by wicked works, and they love not to behold God or to retain Him in their knowledge. They do not want to see God any more than did Adam when he hid himself from the approach of his heavenly Father….

We are to look unto Jesus as our only hope for the taking away of our sins, for in Him is no sin. He became sin for us that He might bear our guilt, standing before the Father as guilty in our place, while we who believe in Him as a personal Savior shall, because of His merits, be accounted as pure from the contaminating influence of sin. Through the imputed righteousness of Christ, we are accounted guiltless. Christ has given to every human being the evidence that He alone is able to bear human grief, sorrow, and sin. Those who claim Christ as their substitute and surety, hanging their helpless souls upon Christ, can endure as seeing Him who is invisible. The benediction, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” belongs to them.

When you are betrayed into sin, do not despair. Do not delay and mourn in hopeless unbelief, but take your case at once to Jesus….

Christ passed over the ground where Adam failed, and redeemed his disgraceful failure. He was made perfect through suffering and is able to succor all who shall be tempted, and to make a way of escape that they may be able to endure temptation…. He knows how to sympathize with every human being, for He has identified His interest with the interests of those He came to save. What a wonderful high priest is Jesus! We may lay our very soul burden upon Him.—Signs of the Times, October 3, 1895.

From From the Heart

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5:7.

It is the duty of the children of God to be all light in the Lord and scatter blessings upon the path of others. They are not to say, “Be ye warmed, and be ye fed,” and do nothing to relieve the necessities of those who are in want….

We are the Lord’s purchased possession, and as His human agents it is our positive duty to administer in temporal and spiritual things from the store which God has given us. Love must be kept in constant exercise to inspire faith in God, that praise may be called forth from human hearts to God and that the golden chain of love may bind the hearts of humanity together. Those who are recipients of the mercy, sympathy, and compassion of God should pass it along to others….

The Son of the infinite God is our Pattern. Heaven is full of mercy, and it is constantly outflowing not only to a favored few, but for the blessing of those who need it most, for the benefit of those who have the least pleasantness and happiness brought into their lives….

Those whom God has made stewards of capabilities and means, He commands, for their own interest, to lay up their treasure in heaven, and as He has given freely to them of His bountiful mercy, to give freely to others. Instead of living for themselves, Christ is to live in them, and His Holy Spirit is to lead them to dispense wisely their goods, being merciful to others even as He is merciful to all. No man or woman can be a follower of Christ and live for self….

In proportion as goods are entrusted they should be dispensed to others. The humblest men and women are to trade upon the Lord’s talents, realizing that what has been lent to them should be returned with usury to God. Though we have but one talent, if it be faithfully consecrated to God and employed in acts of mercy in temporal or spiritual things, we thus ministering to the wants of the needy, our talent will increase in value and be noted upon the heavenly record as exceeding our powers of computation. Every merciful action, every sacrifice, every self-denial, will bring a sure requital, a hundredfold in this time, and in the world to come everlasting life.—Signs of the Times, September 12, 1895.

From From the Heart

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6.

The true bread of life is found only in Christ. Those who do not recognize that the bounties of rich grace, the heavenly banquet, have been prepared at an infinite cost to satisfy those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will not be refreshed….

“Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.” …

Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are filled with a longing desire to become Christlike in character, to be assimilated to His image, to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment. We should ever cultivate an earnest desire for the righteousness of Christ. No temporal wants should attract and divert the mind to such a degree that we should not experience this soul hunger to possess the attributes of Christ…. When in trouble and affliction, the soul longs for the love and power of God. There is an intense desire for assurance, for hope, for faith, for confidence. We should seek for pardon, for peace, for the righteousness of Christ…. Every soul who seeks the Lord with the whole heart is hungering and thirsting after righteousness….

The soul hunger will be satisfied when our hearts are emptied of pride, vanity, and selfishness; for faith will then appropriate the promises of God, and Christ will supply the vacuum and abide in the heart. There will be a new song in the mouth, for the word will be fulfilled, “A new heart also will I give you.” The testimony of the believer will be, “Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” …

Without Christ the hunger and thirst of the soul would remain unsatisfied. The feeling of want, the craving after something not temporal, not tainted with earthliness and commonness, could never be appeased. The mind must grasp something higher and purer than anything that can be found in this world….

Christ was crucified for the sin of the world, and after His resurrection and ascension all the world were invited to look to Him and live. We are enjoined to look at the things unseen, to keep before the mind’s eye the most vivid images of eternal realities, that by beholding we may become changed into the image of Christ.—Signs of the Times, August 29, 1895.

From From the Heart

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5.

Those who have humbly sought God for comfort and peace in the midst of trial have had imparted to them the gentleness of Christ. Those who have learned of Him who is meek and lowly of heart express sympathy and manifest gentleness toward those who are in need of consolation, for they can comfort others with the consolation wherewith they are comforted of God….

Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit and an evidence that we are branches of the living God. The abiding presence of meekness is an unmistakable evidence that we are branches of the True Vine and are bearing much fruit. It is an evidence that we are by faith beholding the King in His beauty and becoming changed into His likeness. Where meekness exists, the natural tendencies are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Meekness is not a species of cowardice. It is the spirit which Christ manifested when suffering injury, when enduring insult and abuse. To be meek is not to surrender our rights, but it is the preservation of self-control under provocation to give way to anger or to the spirit of retaliation. Meekness will not allow passion to take the lines.

When Christ was accused by the priests and Pharisees, He preserved His self-control, but He took His position decidedly that their charges were untrue. He said to them, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” … He knew that His position was right. When Paul and Silas were beaten and thrust into prison without trial or sentence, they did not surrender their right to be treated as honest citizens….

At all times and in all places Christians should be that which the Lord designs that they should be—free in Christ Jesus. Duty performed in the Spirit of Christ will be done with sanctified prudence. We shall be guided as with a light from heaven when we have a vital connection with God…. Those who have repented of their sins, who have cast their weary, heavy-burdened souls at the feet of Christ, who have submitted to His yoke and become His colaborers, will be partakers with Christ in His sufferings and partakers also of His divine nature….

Jesus is our pattern, and it is from Him that we receive strength and grace to walk in humility and contrition before God.—Signs of the Times, August 22, 1895.

From From the Heart

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4.

The Lord works through human instrumentalities and has commissioned to His followers the duty of ministering to those who are desponding and distressed. There are hearts all around us that need to be uplifted, that need the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The Lord looks to those whom He has comforted and blessed to enlighten those who are in darkness and to relieve those who are in sorrow. Those who have received light and peace and joy are not to pass by those who mourn, but are to come close to them in human sympathy and help them to see a sin-pardoning Savior, a merciful God.

Christ has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and He will give joy and gladness to those who mourn. Will you, my brother and sister who have felt the sorrows of earth, do service for Christ in helping the very ones who need your help? …

Those who love Jesus will have the mind of Christ and will comfort all who mourn; those who are poor, tempted, and discouraged they will help to walk in the light of the cross and not in the shadows and in the darkness….

The Lord Jesus has given to His people the special work of comforting all that mourn. Christ is working for this class, and He calls upon human beings to become His instrumentalities in bringing light and hope to those who are mourning in the midst of apparently dark providences….

The furnace fire may kindle upon the servants of God, but it is for the purpose of purifying them from all dross, and not that they may be destroyed and consumed….

We honor God by trusting in Him when all looks dark and forbidding. Let those who are afflicted look unto Him, and talk of His power, and sing of His mercy….

There is a blessing pronounced upon all who mourn. Had there been no mourners in our world, Christ could not have revealed the parental character of God. Those oppressed by the conviction of sin are to know the blessedness of forgiveness and to have their transgressions blotted out. Had there been none who mourn, the sufficiency of Christ’s expiation for sin would not have been understood.—Signs of the Times, August 8, 1895.

From From the Heart