Christ's Life Touched People, February 12

Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14.

Our Saviour did not live in mysterious seclusion during the years that preceded His public ministry. He lived with his parents at Nazareth, and worked with Joseph at the carpenter's trade. His life was simple, free from any extravagance or display. When the time came for His public work to begin, He went forth proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. To the close of His work, He preserved simplicity of habit. He chose His helpers from the lower ranks of life. His first disciples were humble fishermen of Galilee. His teaching was so simple that little children understood Him, and afterward might be heard repeating His words. All that He said and did possessed the charm of simplicity.

Christ was a close observer, noticing many things that others passed by. He was ever helpful, ever ready to speak words of hope and sympathy to the discouraged and the bereaved. He allowed the crowd to press round Him, and complained not, though sometimes almost lifted off His feet. When He met a funeral, He did not pass by indifferently. Sadness came over His face as He looked upon death, and He wept with the mourners.

As the children gathered the wildflowers growing so abundantly around them, and crowded up to present to Him their little offerings, He received them gladly, smiled upon them, and expressed His joy at seeing so many varieties of flowers.

These children were His heritage. He knew that He had come to ransom them from the enemy by dying on the cross of Calvary. He spoke words to them that ever after they carried in their hearts. They were delighted to think that He appreciated their gifts and spoke so lovingly to them.

Christ watched children at their play, and often expressed His approval when they gained an innocent victory over something they were determined to do. He sang to children in sweet and blessed words. They knew that He loved them. He never frowned on them. He shared their childish joys and sorrows. Often He would gather flowers, and after pointing out their beauties to the children, would leave them with them as a gift. He had made the flowers and He delighted to point out their beauties.

It has been said that Jesus never smiled. This is not correct. A child in its innocence and purity called forth from His lips joyous song.—Manuscript 20, February 12, 1902, “Our Elder Brother.”

Yokes, February 11

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6.

There is a great deal of profession in our world, plenty of self-justification, but the evidences of the deep work of the grace in hearts is not so apparent. There is a very earnest, solemn question before us. The time has come when every soul should understand that he has a soul to save or a soul to lose, a heaven to win and a hell to shun. We need to understand what we shall do to be saved….

In the experience of God's people there have been yokes … that God never ordained, yokes that have greatly marred the experience and have offended the Lord God of Israel. Because a man carries responsibilities in the church, he is not given liberty to rule the mind and judgment of others with whom the Lord is working. The Lord wants every soul in His service to understand what is the kind of work required of him….

God has sent the instruction to break every yoke. We are one—one in Christ Jesus. Position does not make the man. Position does not give liberty to exercise power arbitrarily over others. It is counsel that is needed; righteousness in deportment that is to be made manifest with meekness and humbleness of mind, and a spirit to seek the Lord until He is found….

“Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 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” (Isaiah 58:9, 10). Praise God with heart and voice for this possibility! Praise God that we can bring this promise to the Lord for fulfillment, when we comply with the conditions. When we do not know which way to turn, light direct from God will come to us, if we will follow His directions….

Let us each bring ourselves into submission to the Lord God of Israel. You may have your peculiar way, I may have my peculiar way, and some others their peculiar way; but under God that way will be agreeable. If we are not under the control of God, led by the inspiration of His Spirit, our way will not be agreeable. What we need is to stand in right relation to the great I AM. When we stand in right relation to Him, we can do as Christ has commissioned.—Manuscript 9, 1909, copied February 11, 1909, “Two Kinds of Service.”

Show Yourself a Man, February 10

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13.

You can do a much greater and more efficient work, if you will cultivate a calm trust in God, and do not become anxious, and worried, and troubled, as though Jesus were buried in the sepulcher, and you had no Saviour. He has risen, … He has ascended to the heavens, and is your Advocate before the throne of God….

The followers of Jesus need not be amazed if they are made partakers with Christ of His sufferings. How can Christ look upon those for whom He has done so much, for whom He has paid so infinite a price, and yet they have never appreciated His great gift for them. The work of Christ's representatives will be similar to that of their Redeemer. They are not to look to self or trust in self. They are not to place too high an estimate upon their own efforts. And when they see that others do not regard their efforts as highly as they themselves estimate them, they come to feel that their labors might as well cease. But this is the work of the enemy. We live not to men but to God. God estimates our work at their fullest value. God estimates nobility of character, and whether men appreciate it or not, it lives after the man is gone. After man has nothing more to do with anything under the sun, the example he has set, the golden words he has spoken, live through all time and through all eternity. This influence which was after the divine pattern never dies. His life has been connected with God.

We all have a personal influence, and our words and actions leave an indelible impress. It is our duty not to live for self, but for the good of others—not to be controlled by feelings, but to consider that our influence is a power for good or evil. God would have His workmen be that which David charged Solomon to be, “Show yourself a man.” …

God is not pleased that any one of His representatives worries, wearies, and wears himself out, so that he does not diffuse the sweet fragrance of heaven in his life. We have but one life to live. Jesus has come to our world to teach us how to live that life, that we may represent the character of heaven. We must never grow fainthearted, for it will be far worse for ourselves and for others within the reach of our influence. God requires us to behave with dignity under trials and temptations. The Man of Sorrows, who was acquainted with grief, is before us as our example. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21).—Letter 7, February 10, 1885, to Daniel T. Bourdeau, early worker in Europe.

Choose Ye Each Day, February 9

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. Psalm 119:130.

The oftener the New Testament is read, the more instructive it becomes. No one ever wearies of its beautiful words, for they are like precious gems. The deeper the research made into them, the newer and more splendid the light reflected by them. The more we study the Word with a simple, trustful heart, the more we understand the path we must travel in order to reach the Paradise of God.

Our life is something we receive from Christ by a study of His Word. “In him was life”—original, unborrowed. He was the Fountain of life. We receive life from the Saviour which He takes back again. That life which God has given us should be put to the very best account, for as human agents we are forming our own destiny. We need to choose wisely those associates who will best fit us, body, soul, and spirit, for the future country, even the heavenly. In our choice of companions we should not place ourselves under influences that are in any way unfavorable to the formation of pure and correct principles, for we need all the assistance we can possibly obtain that in our associations we may develop characters after Christ's likeness.

Christ says, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). There are temptations that we must meet. If we yield to them, we are on the losing side, and by meeting with defeat again and again, it becomes a habit to do wrong in the place of doing right. We thus reveal that we choose to work out the principles and attributes of Satan, rather than the principles and attributes of Jesus Christ….

A Christian will not choose as the object of his affection one who by his course of action neglects Jesus Christ, who daily crucifies the Son of God afresh, and puts Him to an open shame. Such reveal by their actions and conversation that they have no respect for the One who gave His life for the life of humanity, enduring for them poverty, temptation, self-denial, and self-sacrifice. Through all His life here He was unappreciated and misunderstood, even by the members of His own family.

Satan was constantly suggesting to His brethren, the sons of Joseph, criticisms of the One who seemed so unlike themselves. Every solicitation to evil was refused by Him, because He would not be persuaded to accept wrongdoing, or to deviate in the slightest from “It is written.” He seemed to have Scripture treasured in heart and mind. He seldom rebuked their course of action, but always had a word from God to speak to them—“It is written.”—Manuscript 2, February 9, 1896, untitled manuscript.

Christ Is Our Only Hope, February 8

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:13.

The Lord is a God of knowledge. In His Word, He is represented as weighing men, their development of character, and all their motives, whether they be good or evil. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, the child granted her by God in answer to her earnest entreaty, said, “The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed” (1 Samuel 2:3). David declared, “Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity” (Psalm 62:9). Isaiah says, “Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just” (Isaiah 26:7). Solomon writes, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits” (Proverbs 16:2). It is for the eternal interest of everyone to search his own heart and to improve every God-given faculty.

There are many important lessons for each to learn. Let all remember that there is not a motive in the heart of any man that the Lord does not clearly see. The motives of each one are weighed as carefully as if the destiny of the human agent depended upon this one result. We need a connection with divine power, that we may have an increase of clear light and an understanding of how to reason from cause to effect. We need to have the powers of the understanding cultivated, by our being partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Let us each one consider carefully the solemn truth: God in heaven is true, and there is not a design however intricate, not a motive however carefully hidden, that He does not clearly understand. He reads the secret devising of every heart. Man may plan out crooked actions for the future, thinking that God does not understand, but in that great day when the books are opened, and every man is judged by the things written in the books, those actions will appear as they are….

There is no one, however earnestly he may be striving to do his best, who can say, “I have no sin.” He who would say this would be under a dangerous deception. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). How then can we escape the charge, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting”? We are to look to Christ. At infinite cost, He has covenanted to be our representative in the heavenly courts, our Advocate before God.—Manuscript 23, February 8, 1906, “A God of Knowledge by Whom Actions Are Weighed.”