Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12.

To follow Christ is not freedom from conflict. It is not child’s play. It is not spiritual idleness. All the enjoyment in Christ’s service means sacred obligations in meeting oft stern conflicts. To follow Christ means stern battles, active labor, warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our enjoyment is the victories gained for Christ in earnest, hard warfare. Think of this.

“We are labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9). Christ engaged in the great work for which He lived and died. We are to be instant in season and out of season. And why? “For ye are bought with a price,” and have enlisted under the banner of Prince Emmanuel. We are enlisted for labor, “not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life” (John 6:27). We are to work out our own salvation with fear and with trembling. We are not our own. We are bought with a price, to glorify God with our bodies and spirits, which are His. A work is to be done. There is a faithful work to do in His vineyard. And to every man is given his work. If we are privileged with the bread of life, we must work in the Lord’s vineyard. A charge comes to us to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Christ. We are to run the race set before us with persevering earnestness. This oft requires energetic movements. We cannot be idlers. We are urged, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” …

We must keep constantly before the ones who are pledged to the service of Christ that it means diligence. It means to be faithful workers, to do all possible to win souls to Christ. It is a constant watchfulness to be faithful unto death, to fight the good fight of faith until the warfare is ended and as overcomers we shall receive the crown of life.

This means much more than we take in. Christ is our example. The Christian warfare is not a life of indulgence to eat and drink and dress as self-indulgent worldlings. The Lord Jesus came in human nature to our world to give His precious life as an example of what our life should be. He is the specimen, not of spiritual indulgence, but of a life constantly before us of self-denial, self-sacrifice. We have the correct view that Christ our Pattern came to give us. There is before us the Prince of heaven, the Son of God. He laid aside the royal crown and the princely robe and came to take His position in our world as a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. How few take it in!—Manuscript 156, July 22, 1907, “Diary Fragments.”

From The Upward Look – Page 217

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:2.

Last night I was in a sleepless state much of the time. Many representations passed before me. One was a scene in a council meeting where several were present. One man arose and began finding fault with one of his brethren. I looked at the speaker’s garments, and saw that they were very undesirable.

Another person arose, and began to state his grievance against a fellow laborer. His garments were of another pattern, and they, too, were undesirable. Still another, and another, arose, and uttered words of accusation and condemnation regarding the course of others. Everyone had some trouble to speak of, some fault to find with someone else. All were presenting the defects of Christians who are trying to do something in our world; and they declared repeatedly that certain ones were neglecting this or that or the other thing, and so on.

There was no real order, no polite courtesy, in the meeting. In their anxiety to make others hear, speakers crowded in while others were still talking. Voices were raised, in an effort to make all hear above the din of confusion….

After many had spoken, One of authority appeared, and repeated the words: “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1)…. Christ Himself was present. An expression of painfulness came over His countenance as one after another would come forward, with uncouth dress, to expatiate upon the faults of various members of the church.

Finally the heavenly Visitant arose. So intent were those present on criticizing their brethren, that it was with reluctance that they gave Him opportunity to speak. He declared that the spirit of criticism, of judging one another, was a source of weakness in the church today. Things are spoken that should never find utterance. Everyone who by word of mouth places an obstruction in the way of a fellow Christian has an account to settle with God.

With earnest solemnity the Speaker declared: “The church is made of many minds, each of whom has an individuality. I gave My life in order that men and women, by divine grace, might blend in revealing a perfect pattern of My character, while at the same time retaining their individuality. No one has the right to destroy or submerge the individuality of any other human mind, by uttering words of criticism and faultfinding and condemnation.”—Manuscript 109, July 21, 1906, “Love Toward God and Man.”

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Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2:3.

The Old Testament Scriptures were the lesson book of Israel. When the lawyer came to Christ with the question “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” … the Saviour said, “What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” Christ said, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:25-28)….

If there were not another text in the Bible, this statement carries sufficient light and knowledge and assurance for every soul. The lawyer had answered his own question, but willing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (verse 29). Then by the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ showed who is our neighbor, and gives us an example of the love we should manifest toward those suffering and in need. The priest and Levite, whose duty it was to minister to the needs of the stranger, passed by on the other side.

At the conclusion of the narrative Christ asked the lawyer, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise” (verses 36, 37).

There are practical lessons in the Word of God…. That Word teaches living, holy principles, which prompt men to do unto others as they would have others do unto them, principles which they are to bring into the daily life here, and carry with them into the school above…. The altar and the plough are the experiences for all who seek eternal life. We know altogether too little of the greatness of the love and compassion of God. Let students put to the stretch the faculties of their mind, that they may comprehend such chapters as the forty-fifth of Isaiah, which should be placed in form, and brought into our schools as valuable studies. They will be better than romance or fable. Why have our schools been so dependent upon books which tell so little of the city we claim to be seeking, whose Builder and Maker is God? … Heaven is our home. Our citizenship is above, and our lives must not be devoted to a world which is soon to be destroyed. We need the Word of God revealed in living characters. What pure, excellent language is found in the Word of God! What elevating, ennobling principles!—Manuscript 96, July 20, 1899. “The Bible as Our Study Book.”

From The Upward Look – Page 215

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24.

The natural appetites and inclinations crave earthly pleasures. But those who love Jesus will bring these appetites and inclinations into harmony with His will. They have chosen to be on the Lord’s side, and their lives are to stand out in vivid contrast to the self-seeking of worldlings.

The tempter will come to them with his blandishments and bribes, saying, “All this will I give thee if thou wilt worship me.” But they know that he has nothing worth receiving, and they refuse to yield to his temptations. Through the grace of God, they are enabled to keep their purity of principle unsullied. Holy angels are close beside them, and Christ is revealed in their steadfast adherence to the truth. They are Christ’s minutemen, bearing, as true witnesses, a decided testimony in favor of His truth. They show that there is a spiritual power that can enable men not to swerve an inch from truth and justice, for all the gifts men can bestow. Such ones, wherever they may be, will be honored of heaven, because they have conformed their lives to the will of God, caring not what sacrifices they are called upon to make.

Religion is not pretense. All shallowness must be avoided. Christian character is built by receiving and believing in Christ. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). The true Christian carefully cherishes the truth, realizing that it is more precious than gold. He has an argument that is proof against all the assaults of the enemy.

Nothing but the truth of God can meet the needs of the soul. This truth must be enshrined in the heart, becoming a part of the life. Thus an experience is gained that makes the soul watchful, careful to do nothing that would be out of harmony with the will of Him who died that men and women might have eternal life. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He knows how to succor those who are tempted.

Satan is ever watching for a chance to corrupt the soul and spoil the integrity. He who is off his guard will be assailed and overcome. Our safety depends on having Christ as our Saviour. The pardon that He gives brings rest and security to the soul. Let us be sure that we are rooted and grounded in the faith. Bible doctrines are precious to the soul because they contain holy principles.—Letter 249, July 19, 1904, to Brother and Sister Arthur.

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53.

The Lord Jesus is your Redeemer. Will you not appreciate the great sacrifice He has made for you? No one has any justification for departing from Bible principles….

He who is sensitive to the admonitions of the Lord will work out his own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who is working in him, to will and to do of His good pleasure. The truth of God, abiding in the heart, brings the principles of the law of God into daily practice.

The man who consents to be deceived is the man in whose heart the truth is not abiding. To be occasionally a Christian, to be occasionally devout, is a great deception. It is living a lie. An occasional glance at the Word of God is not enough. An occasional petition to the throne of grace, a form of words, does not bring a supply of grace for the soul’s need. In order for the truth of God to regulate the life, it must be implanted in the heart. It must be brought into the inmost life.

The day will come when you will see that it does not pay to trifle with the interests of your soul, allowing it to become diseased, so inefficient that Christ declares, “Thou art neither cold nor hot…. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15, 16). What does this mean? That He will no longer present the name of such a one to His Father.

Christ clothed His divinity with humanity, and came to this world to live a life free from spot or stain of sin, that human beings, by laying hold of divinity, might become partakers of the divine nature, thus escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. To those who receive Christ as a personal Saviour, the veil that conceals the glory of God from human discernment is drawn aside. With the eye of faith they behold eternal realities.

The Word of God is to be brought into the very life. “I am that bread of life,” Christ declares. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:48, 53, 54, 63). Study the whole of the sixth chapter of John. Strive for your soul’s sake to understand it.—Letter 253, July 18, 1904, to a longtime Adventist in business in Battle Creek, Michigan.

From The Upward Look – Page 213