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| "Lord send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden upon me, only sustain me. And sever any tie that binds, except the tie that binds my heart to You and your service." David Livingstone |
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| No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24 |
Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, education, that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same.
There are no two whose experience is alike in every particular.
The trials of one are not the trials of another. The duties that one finds light are to another most difficult and perplexing.
Read More......So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that each should be careful in the estimate he places upon another.
We little know the bearing of our acts upon the experience of others. What we do or say may seem to us of little moment, when, could our eyes be opened, we should see that upon it depended the most important results for good or for evil. Help in Daily Living, Chapter 2, EGW
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| We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. Romans 6:6-8 |
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| "When
saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither, And hear how these two pilgrims talk together; Yea, let them learn of them, in any wise, Thus to keep ope their drowsy, slumbering eyes. Saint's fellowship, if it be managed well, Keeps them awake; and that in spite of hell." |
The above caption is from John Bunyan's classic The Pilgrim's Progress and refers to the section of the book where the allegorical Hopeful and Christian have nearly reached the Celestial City yet first have to cross the Enchanted Ground (read here). They fled the Cities of Destruction and Vanity Fair, endured the Valley of Humiliation and conquered Giant Despair and are now sooooo close to the Land of Beulah and the River of Death, just on the other side of which lies the Celestial City.Christian reminds the dull and drowsy Hopeful that they were warned by the shepherd not to fall asleep on Enchanted Ground, the last leg of their journey, but instead to remain sober and alert (1 Thess 5:6) and Hopeful, thankful for the reminder, recalls the scripture that says that "two are better than one" (Ecc 4:9).To stay wake as they traversed the Enchanted Ground, they encouraged one another and told their testimonies-- how they came into the faith and they quoted scripture and promises and spoke of Jesus' love and mercy, God's fairness and the return of Christ.I think this "chapter" is brilliant and timely-- we, as Christians, are currently slogging our way through Enchanted Ground and many, many people are sleeping on all kinds of events and opportunities to strengthen our faith and to reach out to others about Jesus' soon return. So many will be lost on this final leg of our journey -- not because of religious persecution, not because of despair, not because of ignorance or difficulties but because we are being lulled to sleep (right on the King's Highway) by complacency and an unwillingness to let go of cherished sins that you know God is convicting you about and that the Holy Spirit wants to help you overcome. How's that for a run-on sentence? How sad is that? How subtle is the devil? How vigilant must we be-- especially now?
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| Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 |
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| The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Psalm 145:15 |
