EGW
When the people of God love God with all the heart, they will love each other. It will then be made manifest that we are unitedly seeking the great prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Our eyes will be fixed above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, and it will be plain that we believe we are members of the royal family, children of the Heavenly King. We shall have heavenly sittings together in Christ Jesus; for we shall rejoice together that we are homeward bound, and we shall reflect light and blessing one upon another. We shall be keeping step with Jesus, following the Light of the world. RH September 30, 1890, par. 1
When this relation exists between brethren, our ranks north and south and east and west will be united in the holy bonds of Christian fellowship. We shall have respect one for another, and love as brethren, because we are a chosen and peculiar people. We shall love Jesus with all our heart, and shall realize that he loves our brethren as dearly as he loves us. RH September 30, 1890, par. 2
When the children of God fail to show respect to each other, it grieves the heart of the Saviour. He says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” We must cultivate love and unity throughout the churches of our Conferences, until we shall be bound one to another by cords of love and tender sympathy. If we individually abide in Christ, and Christ abides in us, we shall be of one heart, of one mind, and will love as brethren. RH September 30, 1890, par. 3
When this love is in our hearts, we shall lift up the cross of Christ, and will not neglect the great salvation, God's free gift to man. In the person of Christ, the Father purchased the human race with an infinite sacrifice. O grand and awful mystery, that the innocent Sufferer could bear our guilt and carry our sorrows! O what love, what matchless love! Let this love be presented to others by both precept and example. RH September 30, 1890, par. 4
Jesus never drives men, but in tenderest love he draws them to himself, and all who will come may come. We see him lifted up as we have faith in him, but it is when we simply believe with all the heart that he is willing and glad to receive us, and receive us now, that we realize what he is to the soul. It is our privilege to stand firmly, decidedly on the promise of God. You should believe that Christ is yours today, that you are his; and do not think that you are presumptuous in having decided faith in the word of God. Heaven is amazed at our coldness and darkness, and it is the result of our lack of confidence in our Heavenly Father. The world marks your deficiencies in Christian character because of your unbelief. RH September 30, 1890, par. 5
When you do not take God at his word, are you not afraid that God will take you at your word? You speak words of murmuring and unbelief, and take a course like the children of Israel, who said many foolish, wicked things in their cruel unbelief, and the Lord said: “As ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” RH September 30, 1890, par. 6
To live in an atmosphere of doubt is to misrepresent Jesus to the world. In unbelief you contradict the sure promises of God, but when you cast yourself on Christ fully, and say, “The Lord will accept the heart which I give him, and will cleanse it and make it a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,” the promises of God are magnified to the world. You declare to others that the pledged word of God is sure and steadfast. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” O what an assurance is this! Can we not take God at his word? The Lord is gracious; he has poured forth the streams of his mercy in a healing flood of heavenly light. He has given to man a gift surpassing all riches, and if we could but comprehend and appreciate his heavenly benefits, we would be filled with joy and gratitude. By dwelling upon the revelation he has made of himself, we may behold something of his greatness and majesty. The more we contemplate his character, the more will our minds be expanded to take in the grand and solemn plan of redemption. RH September 30, 1890, par. 7
When you, in your defection of character, openly declare that God will not receive you, you do dishonor to him, and manifest the most cruel ingratitude. Do not stand in that position a moment longer; for when you stand thus, you cannot be among those of whom it is written, “Ye are laborers together with God.” In your unbelief you cannot be a strength to the church, but only a stumbling-block. You fail to build up others in faith; you do not teach them by precept and example to have confidence in God. RH September 30, 1890, par. 8
Why not repent of your sins, and believe as you confess them that Jesus does pardon, and then rejoice and be thankful for the love that has been manifested to you, in the assurance that Jesus will cleanse you from all sin. It is the ear of faith that will hear the voice of the true Shepherd. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.” RH September 30, 1890, par. 9