Christ, the Magnet, April 7

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Acts 10:34, 35.TDG 106.1

Christ recognizes no caste, no nationality. He holds it as His prerogative, divine and incommunicable, to work after His own might and pleasure. The compassionate Redeemer, He labored among all classes. When the paralytic was let down through the roof at His feet, He saw at a glance the trouble of the sufferer, and He immediately exercised His power as a sin-pardoning Saviour. “Be of good cheer,” He said; “thy sins be forgiven thee” (Matthew 9:2).TDG 106.2

At this, some of the scribes said within themselves, “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” (Mark 2:7). How astonished they were to have their unspoken thoughts opened before them. “Why reason ye these things in your hearts?” Jesus asked. “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (verses 8-11).TDG 106.3

Christ changed the relation of the sinner toward God, taking the guilt from the inmost soul. The rich fool died in his bloated wealth, but the helpless sinner was brought to Christ, and manifesting his belief that Christ could heal him, he was not disappointed. His diseased mind was first cured, and then the great Physician cured his bodily infirmities.TDG 106.4

Thus Christ drew the people to Him. He was unfolding truths of the highest order. The knowledge He came to impart was the gospel, in all its richness and power. The sin bearer, He is alive to all the horrors which sin brings upon the soul, and He came to this world with a message of deliverance.TDG 106.5

What is Christianity? God's instrumentality for the conversion of the sinner. Jesus will call to account every one who is not brought under His control, who does not demonstrate in his life the influence of the cross of Calvary. Christ should be uplifted by those whom He has redeemed by dying on the cross.—Manuscript 56, April 7, 1899, “Following Christ.”TDG 106.6