He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Matthew 12:30.

Half-converted men and women make halfhearted Christians. They are fruitless trees. On them Christ looks in vain for fruit; He finds nothing but leaves….

If Christ and self could be served at the same time, a large number would join the ranks of those who are journeying heavenward. But it is not for such as these that Jesus calls. His cause does not need such adherents.

Christ’s true followers use their knowledge to make others the recipients of His grace. With their lamps filled with holy oil, they go forth to give light to those in darkness. Such workers see many souls turning to the Lord. New truths continually unfold to them, and as they receive, they impart.

Those for whom the fetters of sin have been broken, who have sought the Lord with brokenness of heart and have obtained answer to their yearning requests for righteousness, are never cold and spiritless. They realize that they have a part to act in the work of soul-saving. They watch and pray and work for the salvation of souls. Molded and fashioned by the Holy Spirit, they gain depth and breadth and stability of Christian character. They gain enduring spiritual happiness. Walking in Christ’s footsteps, they become identified with Him in His self-sacrificing plans. Such Christians are not cold and unimpressible. Their hearts are filled with unselfish love for sinners. They put away from them all worldly ambition, all self-seeking. Contact with the deep things of God makes them more and more like their Savior. They exult in His triumphs; they are filled with His joy. Day by day they are growing up to the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus….

By the way in which we do the work Christ has given us to do in His absence, we decide our future destiny…. Christ, the Master of the household, has gone to prepare for us mansions in the heavenly city. We are waiting for His return. Let us honor Him in His absence by doing with faithfulness the work He has placed in our hands. Waiting, watching, working, we are to prepare for His return.—Signs of the Times, July 9, 1902.

From From the Heart

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. John 15:16.

Christ ever rebuked the Pharisees for their self-righteousness…. They were exalted to heaven in point of opportunity, in having the Scriptures, in knowing the true God, but their hearts were not filled with thankfulness to God for His great goodness toward them. They came forth filled with spiritual pride, and their theme was self—“myself, my feelings, my knowledge, my ways.” Their own attainments became the standard by which they measured others….

Let every disciple of Christ inquire in all humility of mind, What must I do to be saved? If we sincerely desire to understand, we shall know. It is not because of our riches, our knowledge, our superiority of position, that Jesus loves us and blesses us, but because we believe in Him as our personal Savior. Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners, but having chosen us He says He has ordained us to go and bring forth fruit. Has each one something to do? Certainly, everyone that is yoked up with Christ must bear His burden, work in His lines…. The life of Christ’s pardoning love in the soul is as a well of water springing up unto eternal life. If the well of water is in the heart, then the entire life will reveal the fact, and the refreshing grace of God will be made manifest.

Religion is not simply to have joyous feelings, to be conscious of having privileges and light, to have rapturous emotions, while expending all the energies to keep a balance in the Christian life, while doing nothing for the salvation of souls. Religion is doing the words of Christ; it is standing as faithful sentinels, not doing to earn salvation, but doing because, all undeserving, you have received the heavenly gift. Religion is to work out God’s plans, to cooperate with the intelligences of heaven….

If we will follow on to know the Lord, our views will broaden. They will not be bound about by self. We should pray the Lord to enlarge our understanding, so that we may not only understand that Jesus Christ is our substitute and surety, but that we belong to Christ as His purchased possession. Paul says, “Ye are bought with a price,” and draws this conclusion, “Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”—Signs of the Times, December 17, 1894.

From From the Heart

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24.

Satan presents the same temptations today that he presented to Adam, and to Jesus, the second Adam, who overcame him and made it possible for us to overcome…. Our efforts and Christ’s power will bring us off conquerors….

All heaven is watching with interest to see what use we are making of God’s entrusted talents. If we lay up treasure in heaven, we shall use the Lord’s goods to advance His cause, to save souls, and to bless humanity, and all that is so used the Lord will place to our account in the bank that never fails. When the heart loves God supremely, property is no hindrance to advancement in the Christian warfare, because the consecrated followers of Jesus will discern the best investments to make, and will use their wealth to bless the children of God.

The constant employment of the capabilities to amass wealth on earth binds us to earth. We become slaves to mammon. When wealth increases, the idolatrous heart becomes forgetful of God, and grows self-secure and satisfied. Religious duties are neglected. There is an impatience manifested under restraint, and we become self-sufficient…. The world comes in between the soul and heaven. Our eyes are blinded by the “god of this world,” so that we cannot discern or appreciate the value of eternal things….

Motives stronger, and agencies more powerful, could never be brought into operation—the enjoyment of heaven, the exceeding rewards for right-doing, the society of angels, the communion and love of God and His Son, the elevation and extension of all our powers throughout eternal ages; and it hath not “entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Are these not mighty incentives and encouragements to urge us to give our heart’s loving service to our Creator and Redeemer? …

Shall we not regard the great mercy of God? Let us place ourselves in right relation to Him who has loved us with amazing love, and avail ourselves of the great privilege of becoming instruments in His hands, that we may cooperate with the ministering angels and be colaborers with God and Christ.—Bible Echo (Australia), Feb. 15, 1889.

From From the Heart

As the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. John 14:31.

Those who have experienced the blessing of God should be the most grateful of persons.

They should send up to God words of thanksgiving because Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, clothing His divinity with humanity in order that He might bring before the world the perfection of God in His own character. He came to represent God, not as a stern judge, but as a loving father….

The Lord Jesus is an example in all things. By the works which He did He made it plain that He was in council with the Father and that He was in every move fulfilling the eternal purposes of God. In spirit, in works, in His whole earthly history, He revealed the mind and purpose of God toward His heritage among humanity. In His obedience to the law of God, He exemplified in His human nature the fact that the law is a transcript of divine perfection. In the gift of Christ to the world God would overwhelm fallen men and women with a marvelous manifestation of His great love wherewith He has loved us; but while He would that all should come to repentance, the declaration no less expressed His character, that He will by no means clear the guilty. Should He give the least sanction to sin, His throne would be corrupted….

All who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior also are provided with heavenly protection and heavenly light, for the angels of God are sent to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. The representation given to Jacob of a ladder whose base rested upon earth and whose top reached to the throne of God, whereon ascended and descended the angels of heaven, is a representation of the plan of salvation. Had the ladder failed to connect with earth by one inch, the connection between earth and heaven would have been broken, and all would have been hopelessly lost. But the ladder is planted firmly upon the earth, that heaven may connect with earth and that the fallen human family be redeemed and rescued. Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, whose base is upon the earth and whose topmost round reaches the throne of God…. Through Christ heavenly intelligences may communicate with human agents.—Signs of the Times, April 11, 1895.

From From the Heart

He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24.

The sayings of Christ are to be valued not merely in accordance with the measure of our understanding; they are to be considered in the important bearing which Christ Himself gave them. He took the old truths, of which He Himself was the originator, and placed them before His hearers in heaven’s own light. And how different was their representation! What a flood of meaning and brightness and spirituality was brought in by their explanation! …

The rich treasures of truth, opened before the people, attracted and charmed them. They were in marked contrast with the spiritless, lifeless expositions of the Old Testament Scriptures by the rabbis. And the miracles which Jesus wrought kept constantly before His hearers the honor and glory of God. He seemed to them a messenger direct from heaven, for He spoke not to their ears only, but to their hearts. As He stood forth in His humility, yet in dignity and majesty, as one born to command, a power attended Him; hearts were melted into tenderness. An earnest desire was created to be in His presence, to listen to the voice of Him who uttered truth with such solemn melody….

Every miracle wrought by Christ convinced some of His true character. Had someone in the common walks of life done the same works that Christ did, all would have declared that person to be working by the power of God. But there were those who did not receive the light of heaven, and they set themselves more determinedly against this evidence….

It was not the absence of external honor and riches and glory that caused the Jews to reject Jesus. The Sun of Righteousness, shining amid the moral darkness in such distinct rays, revealed the contrast between sin and holiness, purity and defilement, and such light was not welcome to them….

The teachings of Christ, in precept and example, were the sowing of the seed afterward to be cultivated by His disciples. The testimony of these fishermen was to be referred to as the highest authority by all the nations of the world.—The Review and Herald, July 12, 1898.

From From the Heart