Daily Devotional

January 13, 2019

Obedience Through Grace

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8, NKJV.

God desires us to reach the standard of perfection made possible for us by the gift of Christ. He calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with heavenly agencies, to adopt principles that will restore in us the divine image. In His written Word and in the great book of nature He has revealed the principles of life. It is our work to obtain a knowledge of these principles, and by obedience to cooperate with Him in restoring health to the body as well as to the soul.

Human beings need to learn that the blessings of obedience, in their fullness, can be theirs only as they receive the grace of Christ. It is His grace that gives men and women power to obey the laws of God. It is this that enables them to break the bondage of evil habit. This is the only power that can make them and keep them steadfast in the right path….

When the gospel is received in its purity and power, it is a cure for the maladies that originated in sin. The Sun of Righteousness arises, “with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2). Not all that this world bestows can heal a broken heart, or impart peace of mind, or remove care, or banish disease. Fame, genius, talent – all are powerless to gladden the sorrowful heart or to restore the wasted life. The life of God in the soul is humanity’s only hope.

The love which Christ diffuses through the whole being is a vitalizing power. Every vital part – the brain, the heart, the nerves – it touches with healing…. It implants in the soul joy that nothing earthly can destroy – joy in the Holy Spirit – health-giving, life-giving joy….

Although for ages sin has been strengthening its hold on the human race, although through falsehood and artifice Satan has cast the black shadow of his interpretation upon the Word of God, and has caused men and women to doubt His goodness; yet the Father’s mercy and love have not ceased to flow earthward in rich currents. If human beings would open the windows of the soul heavenward, in appreciation of the divine gifts, a flood of healing virtue would pour in. – The Ministry of Healing, 114-116.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 48.

Daily Devotional

January 12, 2019

Christ’s Perfect Obedience Can Be Ours

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19, NKJV.

[Scripture tells] the story so important for every human being to know. On the one hand is presented the disobedience of Adam, with its consequences; on the other, the obedience of Christ. The Garden of Eden was disgraced by Adam’s disobedience; but as by that one transgression many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One, many are made righteous.

The world has been honored with the presence of one Man who was wholly and entirely obedient – One who not only believed and taught the claims of God’s law, but who lived the law. His whole life was a representation of its holy principles. His obedience was manifested in the awful agony He endured in the Garden of Gethsemane; and through His suffering He has brought pardon to the disobedient.

When Christ gave to His disciples the conditions of salvation, He said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Self-denial and crosses lie directly in the path of every soul who will follow Jesus. Our advance heavenward will be opposed at every step; for Satan will come in many ways to mislead, to deceive, and to clothe sin with the appearance of good….

I would urge you … carefully to consider the self-denial and self-sacrifice that Christ has endured in your behalf, that you, if you choose, may have that happiness and peace in this life which He alone can give, and an eternity of bliss by and by. Then will you not become missionaries for Christ? Are you not willing to deny self for His sake? to consider how you can do Him service who has done such service for you in redeeming your soul from the power of sin and Satan? When upon earth, Christ said of Himself, “I am among you as he that serveth.” He did not strive to obtain the highest place; for He was meek and lowly in heart. He invites you to learn of Him, to wear His yoke – the yoke of obedience to every precept of Jehovah. – Youth’s Instructor, April 1, 1897.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 47.

Daily Devotional

January 11, 2019

Israel Pledges to Obey God’s Commandments

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” Exodus 24:7, NKJV.

Preparation was now made for the ratification of the covenant, according to God’s directions. [Exodus 24:4-8 quoted.]

Here the people received the conditions of the covenant. They made a solemn covenant with God, typifying the covenant made between God and every believer in Jesus Christ. The conditions were plainly laid before the people. They were not left to misunderstand them. When they were requested to decide whether they would agree to all the conditions given, they unanimously consented to obey every obligation. They had already consented to obey God’s commandments. The principles of the law were now particularized, that they might know how much was involved in covenanting to obey the law; and they accepted the specifically defined particulars of the law.

If the Israelites had obeyed God’s requirements, they would have been practical Christians. They would have been happy; for they would have been keeping God’s ways, and not following the inclinations of their own natural hearts. Moses did not leave them to misconstrue the words of the Lord or to misapply His requirements. He wrote all the words of the Lord in a book, that they might be referred to afterward. In the mount he had written them as Christ Himself dictated them.

Bravely did the Israelites speak the words promising obedience to the Lord, after hearing His covenant read in the audience of the people. They said, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7). Then the people were set apart and sealed to God. A sacrifice was offered to the Lord. A portion of the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled upon the altar. This signified that the people had consecrated themselves – body, mind, and soul – to God. A portion was sprinkled upon the people. This signified that through the sprinkled blood of Christ, God graciously accepted them as His special treasure. Thus the Israelites entered into a solemn covenant with God. – Manuscript Releases 1:114, 115.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 46.

Daily Devotional

January 10, 2019

Obey From Principle

Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. 2 Peter 1:10, NRSV.

Eternal life is worth your all, and Jesus has said, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). He who does nothing, but waits to be compelled by some supernatural agency, will wait on in lethargy and darkness. God has given His Word. God speaks in unmistakable language to your soul. Is not the word of His mouth sufficient to show you your duty, and to urge its fulfillment?

Those who humbly and prayerfully search the Scriptures, to know and to do God’s will, will not be in doubt of their obligations to God. For “if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17). If you would know the mystery of godliness, you must follow the plain word of truth – feeling or no feeling, emotion or no emotion. Obedience must be rendered from a sense of principle, and the right must be pursued under all circumstances. This is the character that is elected of God unto salvation.

The test of a genuine Christian is given in the Word of God. Says Jesus, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him…. If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (Verses 21-24).

Here are the conditions upon which every soul will be elected to eternal life. Your obedience to God’s commandments will prove your right to an inheritance with the saints in light. God has elected a certain excellence of character; and everyone who, through the grace of Christ, shall reach the standard of His requirement will have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of glory. – Christian Education, 117, 118.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 45.

Daily Devotional

January 9, 2019

Jesus Showed That We Can Obey

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 3:24, NKJV.

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

“He that hath my commandments” means a person that hath light upon what constitutes the commandments of God, and will not disobey His commandments, although it might seem an advantage to do so….If it were not possible for us to keep the commandments of God, we should all be lost. But under the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant of grace, every provision for salvation has been made. “By grace ye are saved.” “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” …

There are but two classes in our world, the obedient and the disobedient, the holy and the unholy. When our transgressions were laid upon Jesus, He was numbered among the unholy on the sinner’s account. He became our substitute, our surety, before the Father and all the heavenly angels. By imputing the sins of the world to Jesus, He became the sinner in our stead, and the curse due to our sins came upon Him. It becomes us to contemplate Christ’s life of humiliation and His agonizing death; for He was treated as the sinner deserves to be treated. He came to our world, clothing His divinity with humanity, to bear the test and proving of God. By His example of perfect obedience in His human nature, He teaches us that we may be obedient.

And the apostle writes, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” It is here plainly revealed that all who believe in Jesus Christ become partakers of the divine nature. Let divinity and humanity cooperate, and fallen human beings may be more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. – The Signs of the Times, April 24, 1893.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 44.