Daily Living

Completeness of Life in Jesus

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We live in a world where many people do not have much of a life. Many others feel that their cup is not even half full. Many people of all ages have been, and still are, desperately searching for completeness, for a satisfaction, a wholeness they cannot seem to find. They search for completeness in the temporary pleasures of sin and think if they could have this or enjoy that, they would then be complete. The devil spreads out so many sinful distractions and temporary pleasures, and the human race is chasing after them, trying to fill some void inside, but they only find misery.

We are aware of so little that goes on in the world, but Jesus said that when He comes, all things will be revealed. Paul says in Romans 2 that the secrets of men will be judged in that day. If you want to be ready for that day, you need to be in Christ so that your sins can be forgiven and blotted out.

This is a simple, introductory study from Colossians 2 on the subject of forgiveness and the blotting out of sin. It shows us that in Christ, life can be complete. Adam’s problem in the Garden of Eden was that he believed his life would not be complete without Eve, so much so that he was willing to sin so that she would remain a part of his life. But the completeness he thought he would have turned into trouble. He and Eve argued and blamed each other and there was no satisfaction in the life that followed. They did not find the completeness they sought because completeness is only found in Jesus Christ.

So how can we be complete, not half full or half empty? It requires faith in Him who has provided for every deficiency. Colossians 2:6 says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Paul returns again and again to the theme of walking in Christ. Walking in Christ is to receive Christ. How do we receive Christ? As we understand God’s character and His love more and more, we will learn to accept Christ in our hearts.

The devil has tricked the people of the world into believing that God wants to restrict their freedom and happiness. They say that God’s law is just a list of dos and don’ts that keep them from having a good life. In reality, God’s law was given to keep man from doing the immoral, illegal, and unhealthy things that will bring harm to them physically and keep them separated from God. It is important to understand that God has something better to replace anything we lose in this world, including our lives. If we are following Jesus, we will eventually receive something infinitely better than any worldly thing we may give up. God changes our mind about everything in the world, and we will see that keeping God’s law and allowing Him to change us will bring us happiness.

So the first step to receiving Christ is realizing how much God loves us and wants us to be happy, and that He is willing to give us all the best things. He has prepared a place of happiness where there is no disappointment, pain, suffering, or loneliness. In fact, Ellen White has written that God created man and woman for happiness, so if we follow God and His way, we will find happiness in Him, even if we have problems in this world. We find this assurance in Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”

The people of this world love sinning because they continually want, and they believe if only they can have what they want, it will bring them happiness and completeness. But instead, they find only emptiness and sorrow, trouble and misery, incompleteness. They may find a thrill for a time in drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, or other forms of immorality, but none of these things will bring them true satisfaction or completeness.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3, last part, the Bible tells us that Christ “died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Studying the cross changes how the mind perceives sin. Sin is no longer desirable, nor can we believe that it could bring true happiness, because the truth is, sin—our sins—killed Jesus. The more we know, the more we will hate sin because we see what it has done and is doing. When we hate sin, the Bible says we will want to repent, because we understand that continuing in sin makes us as responsible for crucifying Christ as were those who drove the nails into His hands and called for His death. The deeper our repentance becomes, Christ is then able to work miracles in our behalf and we will walk in the way of righteousness, loving and trusting Him more.

Repentance is a change of mind and heart, a recognition that we have been ruined by sin and that there is no hope to be found in this world without Jesus. We must have a new heart, a new spirit, and a new life, but we can only find these in Christ. We must first receive Him so that we can live a Christlike life every day.

Continuing in Colossians 2, we are warned that we must be careful not to let anyone rob us of the prize that God has for us. We cannot allow ourselves to be separated from Christ through worldly philosophy. Paul says in verse 9, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Jesus is not a junior God. He is the completeness of divinity, and, because of His divinity, He can do for us what no other being can do. Paul, continuing in verse 10 says, “and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” This scripture is written in the present tense, but it will not be completely fulfilled until we are in heaven. God has many things in mind for us and until we have received those things, we are not yet fully complete.

In Colossians 2:11, Paul writes that God wants to take away the body of our humiliation, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ …” Circumcision represents the cutting away of sin from the life.

Before we can have a new body we must first have a new spirit and a new mind. This is the work of God. “… [B]uried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.” Colossians 2:12, 13.

Jesus does this work, and when we are baptized and raised again in Him, verse 14 says, “… having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Something is referred to in this scripture that used to exist, but does not exist anymore. What is this thing that no longer exists? It was something against us, written by the hand of man, an entity called decrees or ordinances. Paul says this entity was: 1) hostile toward us, 2) taken out of the way by Him [Jesus], and 3) nailed to the cross. Three times he states that this entity no longer exists.

He says that these decrees and ordinances were handwritten, and this is an exceedingly important point, because if they were handwritten, we immediately must see that he is not, in any way, talking about the ten commandments. Man writes using his whole hand. God writes with His finger.

God does not use His hand to write. We find three times in the Bible where God wrote something. John 8 in the last part of verse 6 says: “But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.” This verse tells us explicitly that He wrote with His finger.

In Daniel 5:5, we find the account of Belshazzar’s feast. “In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote … .”

And finally, Deuteronomy 9:10 tells us how God wrote the ten commandments: “Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God … .” Imagine the power it took for God to put His finger on the tables of stone and etch the words of the law into that stone. This clearly tells us just how permanent He intended His law to be.

As Christians, we believe that we are to let the Bible interpret itself, so let’s go to the Bible to see just what was this entity, these decrees or ordinances, written by the hand of man, not by the finger of God, that were nailed to the cross and taken out of the way.

The Bible tells us in Acts 15:10 that these decrees and ordinances were a “yoke on the neck” or a yoke of bondage. Peter says that neither we nor “our fathers” could keep these ordinances. In Galatians 5:1–6, Paul again writes about this yoke of bondage, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Ephesians 2:14–18 and Hebrews 7:16 refer to these decrees and ordinances, this yoke of bondage, as a law of fleshly commandments, handwritten by man, once against us, but now nailed to the cross.

While on Mt. Sinai, Moses received the ten commandments written by the finger of God, but he also received instruction from God, which he himself wrote by hand, that became what we know today as the ceremonial law. In Galatians 3:19, Paul describes this ceremonial law as having been added because of transgression and this law would exist until the Seed [Christ] should come. The ceremonial law required that if a person sinned, he or she had to bring a sacrifice to the sanctuary to be offered up in their behalf, and Paul said that only a sinner was required to keep the ceremonial law. But if a person was tired of sin and instead committed his or her life to obeying God’s commandments and began to live without sinning, they would not have to bring these many sin offerings to the sanctuary.

When Jesus was on earth, He never brought a sin offering to the temple. Why? Because Jesus was sinless. He kept the law and always did the will of His Father.

The book of Leviticus outlines the various aspects of the ceremonial law:

  1. Sacrifices
  2. Offerings
  3. Feasts (set times)
  4. Levitical priesthood
  5. Earthly sanctuary and its rituals

Paul says in Hebrews 13:14, “For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.” We have an altar in the heavenly sanctuary at which Paul says the worshipers in the earthly sanctuary did not have a right to worship. Some people still believe that Jerusalem in Israel is where we must go to worship, but that was part of the old covenant. There is no enduring city on earth where we are told to go to worship under the new covenant.

There are large parts of the Torah written by Moses that were not a part of any ceremonial or ritual law; they were simply explanations concerning the ten commandments that were meant to provide us with a better understanding of the ten commandments and to keep us from being easily deceived by the devil’s smooth talk.

An example of this is Leviticus 11 which contains the listing of unclean foods with the admonition that they should not be eaten. Does that have anything to do with the sanctuary? Absolutely not! But it does have to do with the sixth commandment. Two thousand years ago people had to accept this by faith, but today we have science that proves that there are certain foods that will kill you. They don’t all kill you right away or people wouldn’t eat them. It was sinful to eat these foods before the ritual law was given, so these food laws were not part of the ritual law.

If we study Leviticus 18 and 20, we find that they explain the meaning of the seventh commandment. The Bible tells us many times in the New Testament that no fornicator or adulterer or anyone of this nature will be in the kingdom of heaven (see 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; Galatians 5:16–21; Revelation 9:20, 21; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15). Leviticus 19 gives additional explanation regarding the second, fifth, and seventh commandments.

After Paul discusses the ceremonial or ritual law, which was added because of transgression, he tells about Jesus’ experience on the cross of Calvary, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:14, 15. The “principalities and powers” Paul refers to here is the devil. Because of the cross, Jesus triumphed over the devil and all his host and it was guaranteed that he and his kingdom would be destroyed.

As long as a person continued in sin, the ceremonial law had to be kept and followed, and sacrifices continued to be made. Hebrews 10:1–4 explains this: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”

Colossians 2:16 says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths … .” People like to argue about this text. Let’s look at the whole context surrounding it. Paul has, in verses 7 and 8, raised the issue of false teachers attempting to control the religious experience of those in the Christian church by teaching the philosophy of the world. When we study church and secular history, we find that there were two apostate groups at work. One was the gnostics and the other judaizers. Gnosticism is a terrible thing. It is so bad that almost all of the New Testament writers wrote against it. Some scholars believe that the gospel of John was written mainly to combat gnosticism in the Christian church. Paul consistently teaches against gnosticism in his epistles, but especially in Colossians 2. Gnosticism taught in part that it did not matter what a person did with their body as long as their mind was pure, however that is not what the New Testament teaches. Imagine, sinning and committing all forms of vile wickedness with the body and expecting to keep the mind pure and holy. The gnostics attempted to convince the early Christians that they could lead them to a higher Christian experience, but Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “[C]asting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” The Bible says that we all will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged according to the deeds done in the body.

The judaizers taught that you could not be perfect unless you followed all the law of Moses and kept all the Jewish traditions. Based on the types of food and drink outlined in Numbers 6 and 28 and Leviticus 6 and 23 associated with the various feasts and ceremonies of the ceremonial law, these judaizers were judging the members of each new church that Paul established on what they ate and drank. So Paul is saying in Colossians 2:16 that they were not to let the judaizers pass judgment on them because of the food they ate or what they drank. Nor were they to be judged over the feasts, the monthly ceremonies or the weekly sabbaths associated with certain holy days, which were a shadow of things to come.

What were the festival sabbaths? There were different festival sabbaths (weeks) in the ceremonial law in addition to the seventh-day Sabbath. They were:

  • The first day of the Passover week (Exodus 12:15; Leviticus 23:5–7; Numbers 28:17, 18)
  • The seventh day of the Passover week (Exodus 12:16; Numbers 28:24, 25)
  • The first day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:24, 25; Numbers 29:1)
  • The tenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 16:29–31; 23:27–32; Numbers 29:7)
  • The fifteenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34, 35; Numbers 29:12)
  • The twenty-second day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:39)
  • The fiftieth day (Pentecost), known also as the “feast of weeks” (Leviticus 23:15, 16, 21; Deuteronomy 16:9, 10)

As with their food and drink, Paul is telling the Christian churches that they were not to allow the judaizers to judge them on the keeping of these festival sabbaths nor the other feasts and ceremonies. Paul is specific that in proper context, all these things are merely shadows [types] of things to come. All of this had to do with the ceremonial law and Hebrews 8:5 and Hebrews 10:1 distinctly state that all of the ceremonial law—food, drink, new moons, sabbaths, feasts, sacrifices—were all connected to the earthly sanctuary and all foreshadowed heavenly things to come.

“[B]ut the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” Colossians 2:17, last part, 18. Paul is telling the early Christians that they were to let no one judge them or dictate to them what their religious experience should be, but rather they should go to the body of Christ. He had already told them in Colossians 1:18, 24 what was the body of Christ, “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. … I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” He is telling them, and us, not to listen to the world, but to go to the church. These worldly teachers would have you believe and follow their doctrines and worldly teachings regardless of whether it contradicts God’s word or not. But if you go to the church, to seek out a godly elder or deacon and ask for spiritual advice, they will tell you to believe what they say only as it is in harmony with the Bible.

The church in Paul’s day, just like the church today, was being attacked. Have you noticed recently that Christianity as a whole is being opposed more and more by the world, and this opposition will increase as we approach the coming of Jesus; so much so that if it were possible, even the elect will be deceived. Do not seek out the world for advice. Do not be consumed by worldly philosophy. Do not be cheated of your reward. Do not go to the world, for neither it nor its teachings will make you complete. Only by walking in Christ are we made complete. He has already fulfilled the promise of a new heart, a new mind, and new spirit. If you know Christ, then you will know the completeness of His life in you. [Emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

God said, “Push!”

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Several weeks ago I was visiting in the church I used to attend when I lived in Nebraska. The Sabbath School superintendent for that Sabbath is a loving and compassionate woman I have known for years. Like most of us, she has had spiritual struggles, and knowing this, what she presented for her superintendent’s remarks that morning is much more meaningful to me. It was presented as an analogy or allegory and I’d like briefly to share it, as I remember it, with you.

There was a man who lived in a cabin in the woods; outside his home was a large rock. The Lord came to the man one day and told him that He wanted him to push against the rock with all his might. And so, every day for many years the man set his shoulder squarely against that massive, unmoving rock and pushed with all his might. But each day he returned to his cabin not having moved the rock even an inch.

Then the devil came to him filling his mind with thoughts of discouragement, reminding him of how long he had worked to move this rock and how completely unsuccessful he had been. He told the man that it probably wasn’t necessary to work so hard, suggesting to him that God had given him a task that was simply impossible and giving the impression that God had set him up to fail; accusing God of something that the devil himself would do.

The man became discouraged and disheartened, and for a moment wondered if the devil might be right.

How often have we set ourselves to the task the Lord has given us to do, but to all outward appearance it seems that we are failing? What do we do?

The man, feeling so bad, went to his knees and took his concerns to the feet of Jesus. He wondered as he prayed, how he had labored so long in the Lord’s service, applying all his strength to do as the Lord had asked and yet he had failed to move the rock at all. He asked the Lord to show him why he was failing.

With great compassion, the Lord reminded the man that He had asked him to push the rock and that he had accepted the task and he had done so with all his strength and commitment. But never once had the Lord told him to move the rock. The man thought he had failed, but rather than failing, he had obediently done just what the Lord had asked him to do.

The Lord went further to show the man the results of his obedience. His arms had become strong and muscled, his back sinewy and brown, his hands callused from constant pressure, and his legs massive and hard. Through opposition he had grown much, and now he was able to do more than he had ever been able to do before. His calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise faith in the Lord’s wisdom. This he had done, and now the Lord Himself would move the rock.

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to decide for ourselves what He wants, when actually what He wants is simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that can move mountains, but know that it is still God who does the moving.

So, I was struck by four important spiritual principles as I contemplated this analogy.

The man had faithfully obeyed God’s direction every day, so that it did not occur to him to do otherwise, until Satan suggested that his efforts might be futile.

So faithful had he been, that in spite of his momentary thought to do other than obey God, he took his concern directly to God.

After having exercised his faith according to God’s direction, pushing against this immovable rock for so long, the man’s obedience and faith had increased, the same as his body had become stronger and more muscular.

God is a partner with us. We exercise our faith and trust in Him; God does the heavy lifting, the part that we cannot do.

If we expect to be able to daily obey, then we must exercise our faith, moment by moment, so that we will increase in spiritual strength, until our only desire will be to do the will of God. Even if in a moment of weakness we entertain the suggestions and accusations of Satan, the daily exercise of following God’s direction will enable us to look to Him first. We do not have to believe the devil nor doubt God.

“Those who exercise but little faith now, are in the greatest danger of falling under the power of satanic delusions and the decree to compel the conscience. And even if they endure the test they will be plunged into deeper distress and anguish in the time of trouble, because they have never made it a habit to trust in God. The lessons of faith which they have neglected they will be forced to learn under a terrible pressure of discouragement.” Reflecting Christ, 120

If we want to always do what is right, then we must daily exercise doing right. We cannot expect to be strong in doing right by putting forth the minimum effort or just suddenly deciding one day to do it. A weightlifter isn’t able to deadlift 450 pounds on the first day. It is a process that includes a proper diet, plenty of water, workout programs that target the quadriceps, calves, trapezius and deltoids, biceps, and shoulders. Without these daily programs, a person will never be able to lift more than an average man.

If things get tough, then we must seek the Lord in prayer. We too often make obedience and faith more difficult than they need to be. Satan misrepresented what God had told the man to do even though he had faithfully done what God had asked him to do, and this created doubt in the man’s mind by suggesting that all his efforts were for nothing because he had not moved the rock at all. But is that what God had asked the man to do? Rather than listening to Satan, he made the decision to talk to God, to find out what he had been doing wrong. And in the end, he’d done nothing wrong. He’d been doing exactly what God had told him to do. Satan did this same thing in the Garden of Eden when he misrepresented to Eve that eating of the fruit of the tree would not result in her death. And instead of returning immediately to Adam’s side and both of them going directly to God, she accepted Satan’s deception and—well, here we are today.

“Prayer … is the source of your greatest strength. God is represented as bending from His place in heaven, watching with living interest those who labor for Him, and waiting to impart His grace to those who supplicate His throne. …

“Never forget that you are laborers together with God, and that it is your privilege to be constantly shielded by His grace. … He calls upon everyone who has named His name to be converted daily, that he may work intelligently in His cause, under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. …

“It is the purpose of God that His people shall be a sanctified, purified, holy people, communicating light to all around them. But only as they keep the standard uplifted, only as they reveal that the truth they profess to believe is able to influence them for righteousness and to sustain their spiritual life; only as they make the principles of truth a part of their daily lives, can they be a praise and honor to God in the earth. It is the privilege of every Christian to receive grace to enable him to stand firmly for the principles of righteousness in the service of God.” This Day With God, 53

Finally, we often look to ourselves to do more than what God has asked us to do, by attempting to take upon ourselves God’s job, something that truly is impossible for us to perform. Abraham comes to mind when I think of this. God said He would give Abraham and Sarah a son, but because of their advanced age, they didn’t think that God could do as He had promised, so they lent a helping hand, or so they thought. Instead they created a sad situation that caused trouble in their home and ultimately in the world.

“If the human agent consents, God can and will so identify His will with all our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His word, that when obeying His will, we are only carrying out the impulses of our minds. All such will not possess an unsanctified, selfish disposition, ready to carry out their own wills, but will have a jealous, earnest, determined zeal for the glory of God. They will not want to do anything in their own strength, and will guard strictly against the danger of promoting self.” Our Father Cares, 268

Faith. Obedience. Prayer. Endurance. Our calling is to exercise faith, to be obedient and to trust in the wisdom of God. When we do this, our faith becomes stronger, obedience becomes a natural act and trusting in God leads to surrender. Then, He will move the rock.

Judy Rebarchek is a member of the LandMarks team. She may be contacted by email at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org

Achieving Perfect Flight

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Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 5:48

We are all familiar with the statement Christ made in His Sermon on the Mount to be perfect. It is a verse that Adventists accept as an enabling command. In the nominal Christian world, there are some who try to ignore or explain it away, while many others expect that at some point in their life’s journey, perhaps at the second coming or at the resurrection, Jesus will accomplish this act for them with a wave of His miracle-working hand.

Allow me to use a metaphor as a means of clarifying the challenge we face as Bible-believing Christians.

Suppose that instead of telling us to be perfect, God told us to fly. We know that He wouldn’t tell us to do that without also providing the means for us to fulfill the command.

We might be tempted to say, “I can’t fly.” Well, of course we cannot fly by ourselves, but God says, “I have an airplane, I have a pilot, and I have fuel.”

The airplane is the Bible and the hope it so unfailingly supplies; the Pilot is Jesus and the faith we have in Him to fulfill His promises and His enablings; and the fuel is the working of the power of the Holy Spirit and our trust in the working of that power in response to our prayers of faith.

These elements are also exactly what we need to enable us to achieve perfection. Although God provides the means, it is up to us to use them correctly and faithfully. The Bible is our instruction manual telling us how to fly—how to obey and overcome, thereby achieving the perfection that we seek in our sphere and the fulfilled hope that we harbor and yearn for so dearly.

Jesus is our Pilot, our Guide, who has trodden the narrow way before us. His life is clearly laid out as our example. As Adventists, we have been blessed not only with the description of Christ’s character in the sacred canon of God’s word, but we also have The Desire of Ages, an incredibly detailed and uplifting look into His daily life and faultless character. As fuel—the energy we need—we have the Holy Spirit to empower us as we seek to know and do God’s will.

Most importantly, though, we have the privilege of prayer. Inspiration tells us that prayer is (1) “the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse.” Steps to Christ, 94, and (2) a means—“We cannot bring Christ down, but, through faith, we can lift ourselves up into unity and harmony with the perfect standard of righteousness.” The Review and Herald, October 30, 1888. What a privilege we have of beginning and ending each day’s activity in conversation with our Creator!

So, indeed, we can fly. We can achieve the obedience necessary to be awarded robes and crowns, palm leaves of victory, and golden harps!

Passages found in chapters 27 and 28 in Messages to Young People should provide us great encouragement as we seek to fly a straight course over the Jordan to the promised land.

“We have little idea of the strength that would be ours if we would connect with the source of all strength. We fall into sin again and again, and think it must always be so. We cling to our infirmities as if they were something to be proud of. Christ tells us that we must set our face as a flint if we would overcome. He has borne our sins in His own body on the tree; and through the power He has given us, we may resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. Then let us not talk of our weakness and inefficiency, but of Christ and His strength. When we talk of Satan’s strength, the enemy fastens his power more firmly upon us. When we talk of the power of the Mighty One, the enemy is driven back. As we draw near to God, He draws near to us. …

“Many of us fail to improve our privileges. We make a few feeble efforts to do right, and then go back to our old life of sin. If we ever enter the kingdom of God, we must enter with perfect characters, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Satan works with increased activity as we near the close of time. He lays his snares, unperceived by us, that he may take possession of our minds. In every way he tries to eclipse the glory of God from the soul. It rests with us to decide whether he shall control our hearts and minds, or whether we shall have a place in the new earth, a title to Abraham’s farm.” Messages to Young People, 105

“Christ has made every provision for us to be strong. He has given us His Holy Spirit, whose office is to bring to our remembrance all the promises that Christ has made, that we may have peace and a sweet sense of forgiveness. If we will but keep our eyes fixed on the Saviour, and trust in His power, we shall be filled with a sense of security; for the righteousness of Christ will become our righteousness. …

“We dishonor Him by talking of our inefficiency. Instead of looking at ourselves, let us constantly behold Jesus, daily becoming more and more like Him, more and more able to talk of Him, better prepared to avail ourselves of His kindness and helpfulness, and to receive the blessings offered us.

“As we thus live in communion with Him, we grow strong in His strength, a help and a blessing to those around us. If we would only do as the Lord desires us to, our hearts would become as sacred harps, every chord of which would sound forth praise and gratitude to the Redeemer sent by God to take away the sin of the world.” Ibid., 107

“While true faith trusts wholly in Christ for salvation, it will lead to perfect conformity to the law of God. Faith is manifested by works.” The Review and Herald, October 5, 1886

And faith is the element that brings together all of the components we need to be able to fly safely through this sin-filled world to the world beyond the Jordan.

There are several scriptures, when used together as we kneel before the throne of grace in conversation with our Maker that should give us great hope and encouragement as we recognize the love God has shown for us erring mortals by inspiring Paul to write them.

Through the inspiration and guidance these scriptures provide, we are privileged to pray that the Holy Spirit will enable us to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ so that we may set our minds, our affections, on things above and not on things of the earth, allowing us to be hid with Christ in God, thereby, by faith, quenching the fiery darts of the wicked one (2 Corinthians 10:5; Colossians 3:2, 3; Ephesians 6:16).

Thanks to inspiration, we know that Satan uses the avenues of the soul—our senses—in his efforts to dislodge us from the path of truth and righteousness. However, if, when Satan injects unholy thoughts into our consciousness, either by what we see, hear, or sense in any way, we can remember the promises and the enabling commands that these verses provide. Then by making the conscious effort to direct our thoughts to things above, we are able to thwart the enemy’s efforts and can abide safely under the shelter of the Almighty, taking safe refuge under His wings.

We can indeed achieve perfect flight!

[Emphasis supplied.]

John R. Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org

Words are Like Kites

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When I was young, my mother would tell me, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” If only I had followed that advice throughout my life. There have been many times that I have spoken when I should have kept my mouth closed. The important thing to understand about what we say, as damaging as the words can be, is what is in the heart.

Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, 35: “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” Clearly what comes out of our mouths is indicative of the condition of our hearts. Alarmingly, this also can be a strong indication of whether or not we are in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have you been driving down the road when suddenly someone cuts you off? What was your response? Driving is a very humbling experience for me, on a daily basis. There was a time when I lived about 30 miles from where I worked. The road I took home was a state highway, so the speed limit was 65. One day I was driving home, doing about 68, and a large pickup truck came up behind me, so close that all I could see in the rear view mirror was its front grill. He followed me that way for some time and then suddenly, like he’d been shot out of a cannon, he pulled around me, accelerated past me and then pulled right in front of me barely before he had cleared the front of my car. Then, just seconds after getting past me he abruptly slowed down to exit the highway. I slammed on the brakes, said some very colorful things and even wished some very uncharitable things about the driver. Immediately the thought came to me, Is this what Jesus would have done? Did my words and thoughts have any effect on that driver? No. Did they have an effect on me? Yes. Did the experience help me to change my behavior? I’d like to say yes, but the truth is, probably not. So, what does that say about my relationship with Christ?

“Shall we not remember this? If the love of God is in our hearts, we shall not think evil, we shall not be easily disturbed, we shall not give loose reign to passion, but we will show that we are yoked up with Christ, and that the restraining power of His Spirit leads us to speak words that He can approve. The yoke of Christ is the restraint of the Holy Spirit, and when we become heated by passion, let us say, No; I have Christ by my side, and I will not make Him ashamed of me by speaking hot, fiery words.” The Voice in Speech and Song, 146, 147

How many times have you had difficulty with someone at work or at home or at church and been able to keep your mouth shut at the moment. But later, after you stewed about it for a while, had plenty to say to someone else about what happened and more specifically about the person with whom you had the difficulty? Not only did your words bring more harm to yourself, but they also caused a problem for someone who wasn’t even involved. By this action you also have caused someone else to have ill feelings against another person and together you shared your misery and then perhaps shared it again with someone else and then another and another. Homes and churches have been divided and jobs have been lost because of careless words.

How many times has someone died and suddenly we hear how people really felt about them? Terrible words are spoken about the individual who now has no ability to defend himself/herself against those words. And what about the effect those words have on their family members? It may be that every word spoken is truth, but I just keep hearing the wise words of my mother, say something nice or don’t say anything. If we can speak terrible words about each other or someone who has died, what does that say about our relationship with Christ?

“There is often a great temptation to talk of things which do not profit the speaker or the hearer, but which bring evil and barrenness to both. Our probationary time is too brief to be spent in dwelling upon the shortcomings of others.

“The truly converted man has no inclination to think or talk of the faults of others. His lips are sanctified, and as God’s witness he testifies that the grace of Christ has transformed his heart. … Those only will enter heaven who have overcome the temptation to think and speak evil.” Ibid., 145

James 3:6–10 tells us, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

Years ago, Pastor Marshall Grosboll shared excerpts from “The First Settler’s Story,” written as a poem by Will Carleton and published in his book Farm Festivals in 1881. The story of a man and his young bride who went to settle in the western territory, the poem is written in the first-person perspective of the man and had to do, in part, with the man’s inability to control his impatience and his words toward his wife. Here are just a few passages from that poem:

 

“Well, neighborhoods meant counties, in those days;

The roads didn’t have accommodating ways;

And maybe weeks would pass before she’d see

And much less talk with anyone but me. …”

“And finally I thought that I could trace

A half heart-hunger peering from her face.

Then she would drive it back, and shut the door;

Of course that only made me see it more.

‘Twas hard to see her give her life to mine,

Making a steady effort not to pine;

‘Twas hard to hear that laugh bloom out each minute,

And recognize the seeds of sorrow in it.”

 

Time passed and the isolation, bad weather, failed crops, poverty and lack of almost everything began to take its toll.

 

“One night, I came from work unusual late,

Too hungry and too tired to feel first-rate,

Her supper struck me wrong (though I’ll allow

She hadn’t much to work with, anyhow);

And when I went to milk the cows, and found

They’d wandered from their usual feeding ground,

And maybe left a few long miles behind ‘em,

Which I must copy, if I meant to find ‘em;

Flash-quick the stay-chains of my temper broke,

And in a trice these hot words I had spoke:

‘You ought to’ve kept the animals in view,

And drove ‘em in; you’d nothing else to do.

The heft of all our life on me must fall;

You just lie around, and let me do it all.”

 

He knew right away he was in the wrong, but he was a proud man and he left the apology unsaid. With a quick good-bye the next morning, he left his young bride. But that afternoon, sensing a storm coming, he left work early and hurried home.

 

“Half out of breath, the cabin door I swung,

With tender heart-words trembling on my tongue;

But all looked desolate and bare;

My house had lost its soul – she was not there!

A penciled note was on the table spread,

And these are something like the words it said:

‘The cows have strayed away again, I fear;

I watched them pretty close; don’t scold me, dear.

And where they are, I think I nearly know;

I heard the bell not very long ago.

I’ve hunted them all afternoon;

I’ll try once more – I think I’ll find them soon.

Dear, if a burden I have been to you,

And haven’t helped as I ought to do,

Let old-time memories my forgiveness plead;

I’ve tried to do my best – I have, indeed.

Darling, piece out with love the strength I lack,

And have kind words for me when I get back.’ ”

 

As he finished reading her note, the storm swept in. Once the storm had ended, he and his dog went in search of his wife.

“All night we dragged the woods without avail;

The ground got drenched – we could not keep the trail.

Three times again my cabin home I found,

Half hoping she might be there, safe and sound;

But each time ‘twas an unavailing care:

My house had lost its soul; she was not there!

When climbing the wet trees, next morning sun

Laughed at the ruin that the night had done,

Bleeding and drenched – by toil and sorrow bent –

Back to what used to be my home I went.

But, as I neared our little clearing-ground

Listen! I heard the cowbell’s tinkling sound;

The cabin door was just a bit ajar;

It gleamed upon my glad eyes like a star!

‘Brave heart,’ I said, ‘for such a fragile form!

She made them guide her homeward through the storm!’

Such pangs of joy I never felt before

‘You’ve come!’ I shouted, and rushed through the door.

“Yes, she had come – and gone again. She lay

With all her young life crushed and wrenched away –

Lay the heart-ruins of home among

Not far from where I killed her with my tongue.

The rain drops glittered mid her hairs’ long strands,

The forest thorns had torn her feet and hands,

And midst the tears – brave tears – that one could trace

Upon the pale but sweetly resolute face,

I once again the mournful words could read –

‘I’ve tried to do my best – I have indeed!’ …

“Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds;

You can’t do that when you’re flying words.

‘Careful with fire,’ is good advice, we know:

‘Careful with words,’ is ten times doubly so.

Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;

But God Himself can’t kill them once they’re said.”

I have remembered that last verse of the poem for at least 30 years now. Each time I have heard it or read it, it has brought me to tears, even now writing it in this article. And yet, I still struggle myself with impatience and my words. And with every thoughtless, angry, and unkind word spoken, I am reminded of the question: What does it say about my relationship with Jesus Christ?

“God desires your words to be life-giving. Not a word of irritation is to be spoken. However provoked you may feel, keep back every word that would stir up the evil in another heart. … Let every word you speak bless and elevate.” The Voice in Speech and Song, 144, 145

“The love of God in the heart will always lead us to speak gentle words. ‘Charity (love) suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.’ ” Ibid., 146

“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.” Proverbs 21:23

Friends, let us all remember that our mouths only speak what is in our hearts. If we have not surrendered ourselves to the in-working of the Holy Spirit, then there will be no change and we will continue to speak evil. We must cry out to the Lord, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

“As God works upon the heart by His Holy Spirit, man must cooperate with Him. The thoughts must be bound about, restricted, withdrawn from branching out and contemplating things that will only weaken and defile the soul. The thoughts must be pure, the meditations of the heart must be clean, if the words of the mouth are to be words acceptable to heaven, and helpful to your associates. … ‘For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ ” The Review and Herald, June 12, 1888

[All emphasis supplied]

Judy Rebarchek is a member of the LandMarks team. She can be contacted at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org

Mind Your Time

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In the book Christ’s Object Lessons we find the chapter titled “Talents” beginning on page 325. In this chapter Ellen White discusses several talents given to God’s people.

“The talents that Christ entrusts to His church represent especially the gifts and blessings imparted by the Holy Spirit.” Op. Cit., 327.

In addition to the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, there are other talents Mrs. White refers to as “gifts and endowments, whether original or acquired, natural or spiritual.” Op. Cit., 328. These include:

  • development of your mental faculties
  • self-control
  • speech – this involves more than an ability to speak in public, but how we speak in general
  • influence – how we live, as well as how we speak
  • health
  • strength
  • money
  • kindly impulses and affections; and
  • time

The focus of this article is the talent of time. How many of us have actually thought of time as being a talent? If you’ve not read this chapter in Christ’s Object Lessons before, it is likely you haven’t thought of it in that way.

Our time on this earth is limited. It is a probationary time to be used specifically for character development. Ellen White tells us, “A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next. Those who are under the instruction of Christ in this world will take every divine attainment with them to the heavenly mansions. And in heaven we are continually to improve. How important, then, is the development of character in this life.

“The heavenly intelligences will work with the human agent who seeks with determined faith that perfection of character which will reach out to perfection in action. To everyone engaged in this work Christ says, I am at your right hand to help you.

“As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.” Op. Cit., 332, 333.

Doesn’t that make how we spend our time extremely important? And could it be said that how we spend our time can be an indicator of what our relationship is with Jesus Christ? Time spent is time gone. There is no other talent of which God requires a more “strict account.”

If we are not spending our time in the business of becoming more and more like Christ every day, then we are wasting that time. And as we draw nearer and nearer to His second coming, that simply means less time to get ready, maybe even not enough time. So, on what are we spending our time?

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that what we look at, spend our time on, is what we will become. Mrs. White says it this way: “As the mind dwells upon Christ, the character is molded after the divine similitude. The thoughts are pervaded with a sense of His goodness, His love. We contemplate His character, and thus He is in all our thoughts. His love encloses us. If we gaze even a moment upon the sun in its meridian glory, when we turn away our eyes, the image of the sun will appear in everything upon which we look. Thus it is when we behold Jesus; everything we look upon reflects His image, the Sun of Righteousness. We cannot see anything else, or talk of anything else. His image is imprinted upon the eye of the soul, and affects every portion of our daily life, softening and subduing our whole nature. By beholding, we are conformed to the divine similitude, even the likeness of Christ. To all with whom we associate we reflect the bright and cheerful beams of His righteousness. We have become transformed in character; for heart, soul, mind, are irradiated by the reflection of Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us. …

“Jesus Christ is everything to us—the first, the last, the best in everything. Jesus Christ, His Spirit, His character, colors everything; it is the warp and the woof, the very texture of our entire being. The words of Christ are spirit and life. We cannot, then, center our thoughts upon self; it is no more we that live, but Christ that liveth in us, and He is the hope of glory. Self is dead, but Christ is a living Saviour.” The Faith I Live By, 150.

So, if this is not the way I am living my life, if Jesus is not everything to me, then shouldn’t I wonder if I am spending my time on the wrong things? We are told that we are what we eat. The Bible says we are that to which we surrender. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness” (Romans 6:16)?

This world offers so many things–things that many of us have spent a lifetime doing, believing that those things weren’t that bad, and maybe they aren’t, in and of themselves. But were we, are we, doing them at the expense of spending the time in God’s word, in prayer, in witnessing, in caring for our fellow man? How much time have we spent and will never have back? “… time squandered can never be recovered. We cannot call back even one moment. The only way in which we can redeem the time is by making the most of that which remains.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 342.

How much time do we spend on social media or watching TV, reading materials or books or listening to music that do nothing to uplift our souls to God, playing games, time spent on the computer, even at work or exercising (which is important to be healthy, but can also become an idol)? Brothers and Sisters, are we spending the time getting ready for heaven as if that’s the only thing we want or are we doing what we want and if there is any time left, we give it to God? We go to church, maybe prayer meeting, too. Maybe we have a quick few minutes in the morning to read a short devotional and say a few words of thanks for God’s protection during the night and then it’s off to work. And at the end of the day, we might read a little or pray a little if we can stay awake long enough. Isn’t it time to do some self-examination of our lives? We should listen to what we say, look carefully at what we do and even what we don’t do. We must consider what really matters to us in light of eternity.

If we want to be like Jesus, how can we be if we don’t spend any time getting to know Him? Mrs. White says that we should spend, every day, a thoughtful hour studying the life of Christ. Do I? Do you? Do the things we choose to spend our time doing keep us from spending time with Him? It’s an important question because even many of the good things that we do, the way we do them, can keep us from strengthening our personal relationship with Jesus. Can you comprehend that? Unless we have a personal relationship with Jesus first, nothing we do, even if it’s good, will be of value. Without Jesus, we can do nothing, we are nothing. John 15:4–6 says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

I have said this many times: Jesus’ coming is no longer near. It is here. Many of us have spent our whole lives doing what we wanted to do and, consequently, have done very little to be ready for that day. We have spent our lives soothing ourselves with the idea that Jesus has been coming for centuries. He may not come in my lifetime either. But what we fail to remember is that our days are numbered. It is true that any one of us may die before Christ comes, but only God knows when that day is. Doesn’t it behoove us then to get ready and be ready every day, lest that day come and when weighed in the balance, we are found wanting, with our name blotted out of the Book of Life?

We must understand that “the value of time is beyond computation.” As with our whole life, our time belongs to God. Our life, our time, our possessions, everything that deals with man belongs to God, loaned to man with the expectation of development and improvement. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16).

“Every moment is freighted with eternal consequences. …

“Life is too solemn to be absorbed in temporal and earthly matters, in a treadmill of care and anxiety for the things that are but an atom in comparison with the things of eternal interest. Yet God has called us to serve Him in the temporal affairs of life. Diligence in this work is as much a part of true religion as is devotion. … Every man and woman who is truly converted will be a diligent worker” Christ’s Object Lessons, 343.

Earth’s probation is almost over. Our probationary time on this earth could end at any moment. God is withdrawing His sustaining hand. Now is the time to turn away from the things of this world. Now is the time to surrender to God and plead for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The time we have spent is gone. All we have is now.

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).

[All emphasis supplied]

Judy Rebarchek is a member of the LandMarks team. She can be contacted at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org

Testimony – The Man in the Hallway

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How many times have you wished you could meet your guardian angel? It’s certainly something to look forward to when Jesus comes. Well, I’ve met mine. I suppose that’s a bit of an exaggeration. It wasn’t like we talked or sat and visited, but I did see him. And he saved my life.

I was 15 years old, a latch-key kid. My parents would leave early in the morning to go to work and I would get up later, get myself ready and head off to school. School was a short three-block walk from our house and I made that walk every day, rain or shine, clear or snowy, but not uphill either way.

There are a lot of details to this story, but I’ll do my best to keep it short.

We had lived in our neighborhood since I was six. I’d been a latch-key kid since I was nine. I had friends in the neighborhood, my next-door neighbor, a couple of older boys down the street, my best friend a block over and the son of our school principal.

I don’t recall what day of the week it was, but I do remember it was December and cold. My parents had already left for work and I was preparing my breakfast when I heard a noise in the utility room off the kitchen. Seemed odd to me, so I went to investigate. When I opened the door, I found the door from the utility room into the garage was open and just glimpsed something go back out into the garage. We had a stray cat in the neighborhood that would often spend the night in our garage and I figured it had gotten stuck in the garage when Mom and Dad left for work. Somehow the door into the utility room had gotten blown open and it had come in to investigate.

But when I went to the door to the garage to close it, I saw that it wasn’t the cat at all. The garage door was up about two feet and standing next to it was a man. I can still him in my mind’s eye standing there all dressed in black, wearing gloves and a ski mask, the kind through which you can only see the eyes and mouth.

We stared at each other for a heartbeat and then the thought came to me that he would try to come back in and I needed to close the door. At the same second, he seemed to realize that if he was going to get in, he would have to hurry because I was going to close the door. I swung the door as hard as I could and he ran as quickly as he could toward me. The door slammed tightly shut right in his face. I leaned all my weight against it and so did he. This door had glass, so this man and I were straining against both sides of the door, staring directly at each other. He had blue eyes. I saw his hand in its glove splayed on the glasses and that’s when I realized that if he got in once, he would get in again, and I would not be strong enough to stop him.

I ran back into the kitchen and out into the living room. To my left was the hallway and the telephone. I took one look at the phone and stepped toward the hallway, then looked up and there in the hallway was a man. I can’t remember his face. I can remember that he was dressed in a business suit and I remember that I wasn’t afraid. He shook his head no and pointed to the front door.

I turned on my heel and ran for the front door. As I started to go out, I remembered something I’d seen on a television program just a couple nights before where a young girl had run out the front door and right into the arms of the person who wanted to do her harm. Probably the only time all the television I watched over my life did me any real good. I opened the front door and paused, watching the kitchen door and then there he was. He had gotten back in the house and I ran out the front door and to the neighbor’s house.

They called my Mom and Dad. The police came. They searched the house and here is a strange thing, they were able to take fingerprints. Remember, I told you he was wearing gloves, but he left a perfect set of fingerprints. In fact, that’s how he was found.

While I was waiting for my parents to get home, I was in the house with a police officer. He asked me if he could use the phone. I said yes. I saw him pick up the receiver (this was an old circular dial phone), press the buttons a couple times to get a dial tone. He put the receiver down and went outside. I learned later, that the man had cut the phone line. Had I tried to use the phone, I would have been trapped in the hallway, but for the man in the business suit.

It turned out that the man who broke into our house was one of the two boys I knew from down the street. The police knew that because of the fingerprints and he had a record. The next day, my dad stayed home with me and we watched this boy, along with another boy walk across our front yard. The police had staked out the house and they arrested him at the end of the block.

They found rope in his pocket, along with the credit card he used to break into the house. He admitted that it had been his intent to break into the house and ultimately kill me, except, for the man in the hallway. My guardian angel.

I am looking forward to seeing him again.

Latter Rain Expectations

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As probation’s hour closes, Satan will level his sharpest thrusts against those who follow the guidelines laid down by the pen of inspiration. He will carry the contest to every soul. As in the Armageddon of Revelation 16, devils will go forth to deceive the very elect. With demonic cunning, they will inspire the susceptible to make void God’s law and nullify the testimonies of His Spirit—the means ordained of God to expose his deceptions, countermand his policies, and blunt his power.

At this time, as never before, the Church will need its unifying influence, its divine guidance, and its staying power. It dares not yield its faith. Some, alas, through willful ignorance and sinful neglect, have made their doubts regarding the inspiration of Mrs. White an excuse for leaving the Church. By making personal interests more important than the testimonies of God’s Spirit, some dishonor Jesus and quench His Spirit. But the faithful know Satan’s devices. They accept and act on this alert: “He [Satan] seeks by all the means in his power to shake the confidence of God’s people in the voice of warning and reproof through which God designs to purify the church and prosper His cause.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 211.

As God’s prophetic clock ticks off the last seconds of probationary time, thousands, feeling the impact of His now-or-never appeals, will fearlessly step out and, heedless of consequences, align themselves with God’s commandment-keeping people. Hearing their witness, sensing their courage, and feeling their love and true concern for their salvation, they cast caution aside and obey the promptings of the Spirit within the conscience.

“As the end approaches, the testimonies of God’s servants will become more decided and more powerful, flashing the light of truth upon the systems of error and oppression that have so long held the supremacy.” An Appeal to Our Ministers and Conference Committees, 18. We cannot now tone down the distinctive truths. The third angel proclaims no tame, insipid, or spiritless message. The world today and tomorrow needs messengers with flaming torches and flaming tongues who will set ablaze the whole creation.

The gifts of the Spirit, as well as the fruit of the Spirit, will confirm the truth. “A compelling power moved the honest. … Mighty miracles were wrought, the sick were healed, and signs and wonders followed the believers.” Early Writings, 278. The gift of tongues which enables those of different languages to understand the message will reappear: “Then, as at the Pentecostal season, the people will hear the truth spoken to them, every man in his own tongue.” The Review and Herald, July 20, 1886. In a special sense, Jesus offers His followers today more than discipleship. He would make them apostles! “All that the apostles did, every church member today is to do.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 33.

Ours is a reaping message. The apostles, as seed sowers, went everywhere with the gospel’s glad tidings. So God’s harvest-hour witnesses, empowered by the Spirit, will gather fruit for Jesus out of all lands. Staggering as it may seem, every heart susceptible to the Spirit’s appeal around the world will respond. “Every truly honest soul will come to the light of truth.” The Great Controversy, 522.

According to God’s messenger to the remnant, some who had stood as leaders and guardians of the people will betray sacred trust. They will take the position that we need not look for miracles and the manifestation of divine power seen in former times. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 211.) Under the latter rain “Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers.” The Great Controversy, 612.

But alas, some who were once in the church who felt no special burden for their own spirituality and little for others, together with the many who have heard the message and did not respond, will not share the latter-rain refreshing. Their probation actually closes before the latter rain falls. “The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 97. Solemn thought!

Have you, dear reader, noticed a spiritual progression leading to the Christian maturity that all must experience in order to receive the latter rain? Are you becoming more and more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? God would have you “realize every moment that you must have the presence of the Holy Spirit” (Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 310), that “unless you receive the Holy Spirit, you cannot have the love of God in the soul” (The Review and Herald, September 27, 1892), and that “no one is prepared to educate and strengthen the church unless he has received the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Ibid., March 29, 1892). Is your preparation adequate?

God wants us to understand that every church and individual will receive the Spirit when prepared: “The Holy Spirit is waiting for channels through whom to work. … Satan will not always triumph. The Spirit of God will be poured out upon the church just as soon as the vessels are prepared to receive it.” That I May Know Him, 330.

Why haven’t we received the fullness promised? Ellen White observes, “Happy will be the one of whom it can then be said, ‘The Spirit never stirred this man’s soul in vain. … Each step upward on the ladder of progress prepared him to climb still higher.’ …

“This experience every one who is saved must have. … He who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from sinning, has not the faith that will give him an entrance into the kingdom of God.” The Review and Herald, March 10, 1904.

Too many have had an outer-court relation to God, but God wants us to come into the holy of holies and know Him intimately. He offers us an inner-circle relationship so special and inconceivably glorious that even the born-again can only stand in awe and marvel. “It is essential that he [the believer] hold as vital a relation with God as does the Son to the Father.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 943.

Baptized anew in Christ’s love and surrounded with the divine influence of His grace, God’s last-day messengers will herald the distinctive truths that gather out the honest-hearted. “During the loud cry … light will be communicated to every city and town. … The light of present truth will be flashing everywhere.” Evangelism, 694. In addition, present truth will penetrate strongholds of apostasy and heathenism: “In heathen Africa, in the Catholic lands of Europe and of South America, in China, in India, in the islands of the sea, and in all the dark corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness.” Prophets and Kings, 188, 189.

During the latter rain, organizational machinery will at times give place to let Spirit-filled men speak with telling power. (See The General Conference Bulletin, February 15, 1895.) The Holy Spirit will then give us arguments to meet all opposition. (See The Review and Herald, January 28, 1902.) As at Pentecost converts will flock to the church from all directions, and the Holy Spirit will reconvert backsliders. (See The Acts of the Apostles, 48.)

Ellen White looked forward to the time when fallen man, “renewed, restored, raised to a holy rivalry with the angels” (The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1901), would speak the word with power. She said, “Nothing was too great to be expected from the coming of the divine Spirit.” Ibid. The cause would not suffer from lack of funds, for when the poor have done what they could, the Lord would bring in men of means. (See Gospel Workers (1892), 298.) Not just a few but “many a rich man” (Testimonies, vol. 6, 258) and “some who are numbered among merchants and princes will take their position to obey the truth.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1060.

God will not restrict His Spirit. He will infuse every dedicated soul with power. He will pour out His Spirit upon every person who yields to His promptings. He will use our boys and girls as He did in the 1844 movement: “The Spirit of God will come upon the children, and they will do a work … which the older workers cannot do.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 203. Indeed “God can use every person just in proportion as He can put His Spirit into the soul-temple.” Ibid., vol. 7, 144.

Concerning the fruitage of the latter rain, we read, “By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. …

“The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. … The publications … have exerted their influence. … Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. … A large number take their stand upon the Lord’s side.” The Great Controversy, 612.

And God will especially remember the Jew. “In the closing proclamation of the gospel, when special work is to be done for classes of people hitherto neglected, God expects His messengers to take particular interest in the Jewish people.” “Many will accept Christ as the Messiah.” “An explanation of Jehovah’s eternal purpose … will be to many … as the dawn of a new creation.”

“Among the Jews are some who, like Saul of Tarsus, are mighty in the Scriptures, and these will proclaim with wonderful power the immutability of the law of God.” The Acts of the Apostles, 380, 381. Furthermore, “converted Jews are to have an important part to act in the great preparations to be made in the future to receive Christ, our Prince. A nation shall be born in a day. How? By men whom God has appointed being converted to the truth. There will be seen ‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear’ (Mark 4:28). The predictions of prophecy will be fulfilled.” Evangelism, 579.

Prominent men, men of intellect and influence, will step out to join the movement. “The greatest men of the earth are not beyond the power of a wonder-working God. If those who are workers together with Him will be men of opportunity, doing their duty bravely and faithfully, God will convert men who occupy responsible places, men of intellect and influence.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 82. God’s Spirit working mightily among all classes, will draw from “among the leading men of the nation” some who “will stand with the people of God through the time of trouble.” The Great Controversy, 610, 611. And some authors and lawmakers will come out boldly for God’s law. (See The Review and Herald, December 24, 1889.)

Luke, the New Testament historian, tells us that as a result of Stephen’s witness “a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). And in The Great Controversy, 464, we read that many, ministers and people, will gladly accept the message of the hour. The message will not lose its momentum. Rather, as God’s people share their faith, the Holy Spirit will constantly replenish their power until God’s glory covers the earth. (See My Life Today, 63.) Moreover, memorials for the third angel’s message will spring up in every city and village. (See Testimonies, vol. 9, 28, 29.) Thus Christ will be glorified in the time of the latter rain. (See The Review and Herald, November 29, 1892.)

In writing about the love of God, Ellen White goes beyond eloquence. She tells us that the true preparation for the Pentecostal anointing of the Spirit came with the knowledge of their Saviour’s matchless love. (See The Review and Herald, July 21, 1903.) Can we know the glory that shines in Christ’s face? She views it as the glory of self-sacrificing love. (See The Desire of Ages, 20.) She tells us moreover that “Christ’s love is deep and earnest, flowing like an irrepressible stream.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1140. “It is the greatest and most fatal deception to suppose that a man can have faith unto life eternal, without possessing Christlike love for his brethren. … There is no such thing as a loveless Christian.” Ibid., 1141. In speaking of God’s great love, she explains, “So strong is His love that it controls all His powers, and employs the vast resources of heaven in doing His people good.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 519.

As a people we have exercised too little concern for the lost. We place too low an estimate upon the souls around us and those in other lands, but God’s Spirit can rectify this. “God’s message to each of us is, ‘My son, give Me thine heart’ (Proverbs 23:26). … Then open the heart to the Divine Spirit and you will appreciate the value of the human soul.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 41. Love not felt by us will avail nothing. “Unless we can feel brotherly love for those around us, the Holy Spirit cannot work upon our hearts and minds.” Ibid., 27, 28.

God’s Spirit becomes our spirit, and by the Spirit, divine love, transplanted into our hearts, flourishes. “You are to be imbued with such love for Christ that you will yield to Him your whole affections. … Imbued with the love of Christ, you are to be constrained to perform acts of unselfish service. … In such a life there is continual fruit bearing.” Counsels on Health, 633. Imbued by the Spirit with the kind of love Jesus revealed throughout His entire life and in His death constitutes the grand purpose of the plan of salvation. “The Lord is glorified when the great end of His law is attained. It is the work of the Holy Spirit from age to age to impart love to human hearts, for love is the living principle of brotherhood.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 139.

What grand climax does God have in store to give the world in His final message? “Those who wait for the Bridegroom’s coming are to say to the people, ‘Behold your God.’ The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 415, 416. “The indwelling of the Spirit will be shown by the outflowing of heavenly love.” Ibid., 419.

For those who turn away from God’s last love appeal, hope becomes nonexistent. Earth’s two harvests call for reapers: (1) Christ with the sickle gathers the grain for the heavenly garner, and (2) the fifth angel of Revelation 14, who also has a sickle, gathers the vine of the earth for the great winepress of God’s wrath. Earth’s inhabitants divide themselves into the two classes: those filled with the Holy Spirit and those filled with an unholy spirit. No problem of identity exists, for the loyal bear the seal of the living God, while the rebellious bear the mark of the beast.

The investigative judgment has considered the case of each individual who has ever professed Christ—the names are listed in the heavenly docket called the Lamb’s book of life. While the universe has watched, God has reviewed each case one by one. He has retained the faithful; the unfaithful He has blotted out. Rewards now will go to the righteous, and punishments to the wicked. A hushed universe awaits the verdict. The awful fiat goes forth, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11). Court now adjourns for good. Destinies are fixed forever. No higher court exists. Every part of God’s last message to the world has reflected the infinite love of Jesus. “The contemplation of the love of God manifested in His Son will stir the heart and arouse the powers of the soul as nothing else can.” The Desire of Ages, 478. When the soul ceases to listen to the whispers of Christ’s love, the Spirit can do nothing more.

“He that loveth not knoweth not God,” but “every one that loveth … knoweth God.” The heart, in contemplation of Christ’s love as revealed on the cross and nourished by the “spirit … of love” (1 John 4:8, 7; 2 Timothy 1:7), will rejoice in righteousness throughout eternity. Let us tell the world about it now!

Scripture from the King James Version.

[All Emphasis supplied.]

Preparing for the Latter Rain, ©1973, 192–199.

(As shared by daughter, Charlotte Osgood Rollenhagen: her father, De Witt S. Osgood, was a pastor, evangelist, church builder, administrator, writer. “He committed his whole life completely to the Lord.”)

Can We Truly Be Free?

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America! Prophecy foretold that this country would be established, a place where the ideal of freedom could exist. Freedom: the “power or right to act, speak or think” what you believe. It is the absence of subjection to a foreign or oppressive government, the state of not being a slave, but instead being unrestricted in what you believe, where and how you worship, what you love, where you work, basically to engage in any activity that does not violate the laws of the land. These rights are guaranteed to us as citizens by the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution also provides for the establishment of justice, common defense, the promotion of the general welfare, to insure domestic tranquility and secure the blessings of liberty. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal under God and given certain rights by Him including the assurance of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

I think, though, we can agree that this hasn’t always happened. One has only to look around today to see the hatred, distrust, abuse, unfairness and violence, all in the name of freedom. People everywhere ask why is it this way? Why can we not find a way to live together in harmony? I’m not going to wax political here, but let’s talk about why this country and the world are the way they are.

I want to talk about spiritual freedom because without that, we truly are not free. We find this additional definition of freedom in the dictionary as “the power of self-determination attributed to the will.” The Bible also talks about the exercise of the will.

Sin is what keeps us from being free. And if we do not exercise our will to do what is right, then we condemn ourselves to be slaves of sin. Isn’t it interesting that as bad as things have been in this world for its entire history, and they get worse day by day, many will still choose to continue in sin.

“Sin has degraded and corrupted the human family, but Christ did not leave men to perish in their degradation. …” Pamphlet PH078, 54

The Bible tell us there is only one way to be truly free. This can be found in many Scriptures, John 8:32: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Romans 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Also “And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts” (Psalm 119:45).

Martin Luther said to John Eck, “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.” Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland H. Bainton.

To be truly free, I must submit my will, my desires, all of myself to God. If I do not, then I remain a slave to my own nature, a slave to the one who then has power over me.

“The tempter has no power to control the will or to force the soul to sin.” The Faith I Live By, 327.

“In no case can Satan obtain dominion over the thoughts, words, and actions, unless we voluntarily open the door and invite him to enter.” The Adventist Home, 202.

“The tempter can never compel us to do evil. He cannot control minds unless they are yielded to his control.” The Desire of Ages, 125.

“Christ is our tower of strength, and Satan can have no power over the soul that walks with God in humility of mind. The promise, ‘Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me’ (Isaiah 27:5). In Christ there is perfect and complete help for every tempted soul.” My Life Today, 316.

“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power. He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery. He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan. While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness. Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from every soul. ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ (John 8:36). ‘The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death’ (Romans 8:22).

“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. No external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.

“The only condition upon which the freedom of man is possible is that of becoming one with Christ.” The Desire of Ages, 466.

I have written elsewhere that the reason the world is as it is and has been for so long is because mankind and the universe ultimately must see the heinousness of sin so that no one will want to sin anymore. That is true, but more importantly, sin and the terrible condition of the world has gone on for so long because God is preparing a people. Anyone who will accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, who will submit fully to Him will be a part of this people. He has given and continues to give to every man, woman and child in every generation the opportunity to choose to turn away from sinning to become one with Him.

Stand fast in the liberty which Christ has made possible for us and do not entangle yourself in the yoke of sin any longer (Galatians 5:1). Instead rejoice in this freedom, having been set free from sin, “and having becomes slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).

“Spiritual freedom will come to those who consecrate themselves unreservedly. … The saving influence of truth will sanctify the soul of the receiver.” Letter 108, March 18, 1907, to “Our Brethren in Graysville, Tennessee.”

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). [All emphasis supplied.]

The Law of the Harvest

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The flood had done its work and the earth had been devastated. The ark had rested upon the mountain and Noah and his family stepped out to see the devastated wilderness before them wondering what lay ahead. The Lord spoke to them in Genesis 8:21 and 22 NKJV saying, “The Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.’ ”

The first principle of the law of the harvest is the principle of faith. Imagine how much faith it took for Noah to believe what God said. Every living thing, man and beast, had gone out of the ark, but there was still something very precious remaining in the ark: seed. What would they do with that seed? If they decided to eat it, they would survive for a while. If they planted it and it did not grow, the human race would come to its end right at that point. Would they believe God and bury that precious seed in the earth and believe that it would grow and provide food for the family, just as God said?

Seed was the most precious thing in the ark. Have you considered that no seed is sown in knowledge, but rather in faith? Today, the most precious thing in all the storage houses and warehouses of America is still seed. Automobile factories could close and all of the lots be emptied of cars; steel mills and textile factories could close down. In fact, all industries could cease to produce, and we’d still get along. But if there is no seed, then mankind is finished. The most precious thing in all America today is seed; without it, there would be no food.

Remember, seed is sown in faith, not knowledge, so every time you plant a seed you are expressing your faith that seedtime and harvest will not cease. California grows one-third of all the fruit and one-fourth of all the vegetables that are eaten in the whole of America. The state also grows one-fourth of all the vegetables that are eaten in the 50 states. Ninety percent of the apricots, dates, figs, grapes, lemons, plums, dried prunes, walnuts, broccoli, avocadoes, nectarines, olives and almonds are grown in California.

What would happen to America if the farmers of California lost faith in sowing seed? What if they thought seed was too expensive, not worth the investment unless they know it was going to grow? The government would get itself together, all the way up to the president, who would call the governor asking what is going on in California. The governor would tell the president that the farmers have lost faith in whether the seed will grow, so they won’t plant until they know for sure. The president would insist that the governor find a way to get the farmers to plant the seed. But just how do you prove that a seed will grow? There is absolutely no way to prove it.

Every seed that has ever been planted, has been planted in faith that seedtime and harvest will not cease. Early pioneers carried seed in their wagons across the country so they could plant it when they reached their new home. One man, an apple producer from the East, wanted to move out West. He had developed some excellent apples, so he took a wagon, covered the whole bed with dirt and planted the apple seedlings in the dirt. He nurtured them all the way across the plains, finally settling close to Portland, Oregon, where he started the apple industry in the Northwest that still thrives there today.

The second principle is brought to view in Psalms 126:5, 6 NKJV: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” This is the principle of inconvenience. What this means is there is no easy way, no easy time, no easy place to sow a seed. If you’re not willing to accept the inconvenience, there will be no harvest. Seed sowing is not easy. Ask anyone who was raised on a farm and they’ll testify to that.

I remember well springtime on the farm. The tractor was used to work the fields, but the garden plot was too small for the tractor, so the soil had to be turned with a shovel or spade. Once the soil was turned, a rake was used to make it smooth, then you would use the hoe to make furrows in the ground. For tiny seeds the furrow would be shallow and once planted, the furrow would be closed by hand, with just a little dirt; otherwise, it would kill the seeds. The same process was followed for the larger seeds, but as you pull the hoe down the row, the furrows are deeper. Once these seeds are planted down the row, the hoe is used to pull the dirt back over to cover the seeds.

To plant potatoes, the potato is cut into sections with at least one growing eye sprout on each section. The sections are loaded into a bucket or a bag and carried down the row. To dig the hole for the potato section, you used a spade pushing it deep into the soil and rocking it back and forth. A section of potato is dropped into the resulting hole, the spade removed, and the dirt packed down over the potato. This is repeated for every potato section planted.

All that digging and turning the soil and dragging the hoe back and forth from one end of the garden plot to the other begins to make you feel all twisted around and makes your muscles ache. And burying that spade deep into the soil and rocking it back and forth and packing it back down with your foot only adds to the ache.

Planting tomatoes is harder. Tomato plants are delicate and must be handled with great care. If you were planting a whole field of tomatoes, you could use a tractor or a team to create the furrow, but you would still have to handle the plants by hand. Once the furrow has been made, the tomato plant is placed carefully into the soil, gently gathering earth around it with your hands. You then move on placing one plant after another into the ground.

It doesn’t take long to begin to feel that all this bending and standing is hard on the back and maybe a waste of time and energy, so you stay bent over until finally even that begins to cause an ache and you end up on your hands and knees crawling down each row until you just have to go to the rag box in the house and find rags to tie around your knees. Can you imagine the amount of crawling you can do working on a farm? Miles and miles on your hands and knees. There’s just no easy way to sow a seed. If you do not accept the principle of inconvenience, you will never have a harvest.

The third principle of the law of the harvest is brought to view in 2 Corinthians 9:6 KJV – the principle of apparent waste. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly.

While teaching at Atlantic Union College, I decided to look for a small church not far from the college to do some seed sowing. I found one about 50 miles away in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was a small church with seven elderly members. I took some students with me to the Haverhill Church to see if we could get something going. We gathered the members together and laid out our plan to do outreach in the community, maybe pass out some literature. But the members said they had tried to hand out literature about ten years before and it didn’t work.

Let me ask you, how much success would a farmer have if he sowed seed once in ten years? All nature testifies with a resounding voice on this subject. If you could ask an oak how many acorns it drops in one year to make sure another oak tree grows, what do you suppose would be its response? That tree might say 10,000 every year.  Friends, “He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth abundantly shall reap also abundantly.”

My wife had a rose bush in our front yard. I asked her how many roses she thought that bush typically produced. She said probably 100 three or four times a year. Let’s do some calculating. The rose bush produces four or five hundred flowers each year and every flower becomes a seed pod with at least 30 or 40 seeds in it. How many seeds is this one rose bush producing every year to make sure that another rose bush grows?

Count the seeds in an apple. I’ve been told there are eight. I talked to a man who had an apple tree in his yard. He gave it very tender care and said that in one year he got 52 bushels of apples off that one tree. If there are about 40 apples in a bushel, that’s more than 2,000 apples and 2,000 apples multiplied by eight seeds will make 16,000 seeds from that one apple tree just to make sure that the apple trees don’t die out. All nature testifies with a single voice and the principle of apparent waste dictates that you must sow many, many, many seeds.

There is a difference in seed sowing in the ground and seed sowing in human hearts. The ground stays there. You put seeds in the ground, and you can watch what happens. But you can’t do that when you’re sowing seed in human hearts. You can put a seed in someone’s heart today, but they may not stay put; in fact, you might never see them again. But that doesn’t invalidate seed sowing. Remember, the principle is of apparent waste, not of actual waste. It’s not wasteful to sow that many seeds because the seeds are being watched over by the Holy Spirit and the Lord has promised that seedtime and harvest will not cease.

The final principle is found in Matthew 13:1–8 KJV, where we read the well-known parable of the sower who went forth to sow. “The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.”

One day at Princeton University a little white-haired man went to the blackboard and carefully wrote down, “E=mc2.” And he stood back and looked at that for a while and he said, I think that’s it. That formula produced the hydrogen bomb, the atom bomb and nuclear fission. Powerful, formula. I’d like to suggest that Matthew 13:1–8 contains a formula greater than that, the One=3030.

We will use the lowest factor that Jesus gave, the thirtyfold. Jesus said, the one seed that grows will produce thirtyfold. Take a piece of paper and lay it on a large table. In the center of that piece of paper make a dot to represent the one seed that grew. Around that dot make thirty more dots and that’s the principle of one equals thirty. But remember, this is to the 30th power because every one of those 30 seeds is a good seed. We’re ignoring the ones that are wasted because you scattered your seed like the seeds of autumn and so you have one good seed in every one of those 30 positions. Make 30 dots around each of those 30 dots. Now you have 900. And then you make 30 dots around every one of the 900 dots; now you have 27,000. Then you make 30 dots around every one of those 27,000 dots and you come up with something like 810,000. That is the principle of enormous power.

You may not see it because man doesn’t stay in one place all the time, so you have to go by faith; you have to believe that the Lord of the harvest has guaranteed that when the seed is sown there will be wonderful fruit. For example –

A Seventh-day Adventist lady had some tracts and while shopping at the little grocery store in the small town where she lived she said to the grocer, “You might like to read this” and she lay the tract on the counter. The grocer glanced at it, but wasn’t interested. When the next customer came by with her bag of groceries, he picked up the tract and put it in her bag. She got home and emptied the bag and said, “Where did that thing come from? Well, it’s some kind of a religious tract. I’m not interested in it, but my neighbor across the fence is a religious man.” He was out working in his backyard, so she went out and leaned across the fence, “Would you like to have this, neighbor? It’s a religious tract of some kind.”

“Sure, sure, I’d like to have it.” He read it. Long story short, he was converted by that tract and subsequently, not only did he become a Seventh-day Adventist, but he also became a Seventh-day Adventist minister. His name was Leo Wheeler and through his ministry W.H. Smith and another man named Ashton, came into the faith and they also became Seventh-day Adventist ministers. Through their preaching, a man named Charles Longacre came into the faith and became a Seventh-day Adventist minister. For years he was the Secretary of Religious Liberty in the General Conference relating to the congressmen on questions of religious liberty. Under his preaching two other men became Seventh-day Adventists and became union presidents and one of the men became the president of the Inter-American Division, and he brought in others, seven ministers, two union presidents, one division president and one general conference secretary that we know about, and many, many others we don’t know anything about. That’s what one tract did, just one good seed.

Some years ago, in Colorado on the western slope hill country, two young Seventh-day Adventist ministers went into a small town, pitched a tent and held evangelistic meetings. Attendance was poor. Nobody decided to be baptized. There were only a couple of interested ladies left behind when they left. As they made their way down the mountain, they felt defeated and discouraged even discussing going into other lines of work. They left that small town, but the Holy Spirit stayed back to nurture the seeds sown.

One of the interested ladies was Mrs. Johns. She had two sons, Varner and Alger. Those two sons went on to pastor some of our largest churches for many years.

A gentleman in the town was concerned about Mrs. Johns after she began to keep the Sabbath. So he took his Bible one Sunday afternoon and went to her house to straighten her out. It wasn’t long before he was keeping the Sabbath. He sold his lumber yard, got what training he could get and became a Seventh-day Adventist minister. His name was Vandeman. He had a son named George, George Vandeman. All of that came from what appeared to be apparent waste up in the hills of Colorado.

I had the opportunity at a northern California camp meeting to talk to Alger Johns. I wanted to verify this tent meeting story. Alger Johns told me I didn’t know the half of it. Between him and George Vandeman they were able to name 14 individuals who through the influence of that little tent meeting became Seventh-day Adventist ministers. You see the principle of enormous power goes on and on.

On a smaller scale, I am reminded of my own mother’s experience. She married my father, who was superintendent of a logging camp in Falls City, Oregon. One Sabbath afternoon, two boys about 12 years old, came to their door passing out tracts about the Sabbath. My mother took one. Being a very devout Methodist, she instantly recognized that it was mistaken and sat down with her Bible to prove it wrong. Before very long she was keeping the Sabbath and while that didn’t make very much difference for a while, by the time she died at 88 years of age, there were 30 of her family keeping the Sabbath. And because of her, through my evangelistic work, a few more than 5,000 people were brought to the truth. Some of them became pastors and have spread the message. All from two little boys handing out tracts in a small town in Oregon.

“The good seed sown may lie some time in a cold, worldly, selfish heart, without evidencing that it has taken root; but frequently the Spirit of God operates upon that heart, and waters it with the dew of heaven, and the long-hidden seed springs up and finally bears fruit to the glory of God.” Evangelism, 64.

Years ago, I was doing evangelistic work in the Hawaiian Islands. We pitched a tent on the Makaha shore. There were probably 35 persons baptized as a result of that series. But there was a young college student spending the summer out on the islands. He came to the meetings, talked to us a great deal and asked a lot of questions. I really wanted to see this young man serving the Lord. But he disappeared, apparently back to the States. I assumed I would never see him again.

Twelve years later found me teaching in the Bible department at Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts. There was an evangelist in Vermont whom I knew slightly. It was near Christmas one year when he walked into my office and asked me if I remembered a young fellow who had come to the meetings in Makaha, Hawaii. I did remember him, I said. The evangelist told me the young man was now a Doctor of Science at the University of Vermont. The evangelist related that as he talked with the man, he asked if this was his first exposure to the truth. The man replied, “No, twelve years ago I spent a summer in the Hawaiian Islands and there was a fellow named Larson who was preaching in a tent on the Makaha Reef and that’s where I first heard the Adventist message.” It took twelve years for that seed to grow. But that young man, his wife and their 12-year-old daughter were all baptized together.

By faith, we must accept the fact that God is doing something we cannot see, but one day we will see the whole harvest and we will be astonished.

We read in Christ’s Object Lessons, 38: “A sower from a higher world, Christ came to sow the seeds of truth.” A humbling work for the King of the universe to come to sow seeds in the hearts of men.

“Christ had come, not as a king, but as a sower; not for the overthrow of kingdoms, but for the scattering of seed; not to point His followers to earthly triumphs and national greatness, but to a harvest to be gathered after patient toil and through losses and disappointments.” Ibid., 35.

“The same laws that govern earthly seed sowing govern the sowing of the seeds of truth.” Ibid., 33.

Remember the four principles of the harvest:

  • Act in faith. No seed is ever planted in knowledge; it’s always done with faith in the word of the Lord.
  • There is no easy way, no easy time, no easy place to sow a seed.
  • Apparent waste. All nature says with a single voice, scatter the seed everywhere, the harvest is sure.
  • Enormous power. The Holy Spirit nurtures the seeds planted and they grow exponentially.

Dr. Ralph Larson completed forty years of service to the Seventh-day Adventist church, as pastor, evangelist, departmental secretary, and college and seminary teacher. His last assignment before retiring was chairman of the Church and Ministry Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Far East. Upon retirement, he continued his service, diligently working with and giving counsel to those within the historic movement.

Old Habits, New Habits

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For most of my work life I have not had to “punch the clock,” meaning clocking in and out daily at a time clock. I’ve either recorded my time on a paper form on a weekly or bi-weekly basis or entered the number of hours I worked through a company timekeeping application.

So when I began a new job that required me to once again use a time clock, it was difficult to remember that my first stop of the day should be to clock in. I don’t really have trouble remembering to clock out to go to lunch and back in when I return, nor do I have trouble remembering to clock out at the end of the day.  But clocking in each morning has become a frustrating exercise for me, because I keep forgetting and have to ask my supervisor to clock me in.

You see, even though my supervisor is very gracious about clocking me in when I forget to do it myself, I feel that it should be my responsibility. This is a new, necessary habit I should be developing.

So, that got me to thinking, what exactly is a habit? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has several definitions of the word habit. Let’s look at just two:

  • An acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary
  • An addiction

In the spiritual realm, humans by nature tend toward addiction. Our natures compel us toward sin. We are addicted to sinning and nothing short of divine intervention can change this habit of sinning. However, let’s keep one thing in mind regarding addiction: it is necessary that the addicted one makes the choice to end the power addiction has over his or her life. It may not be possible to end it without outside help, but the addiction cannot be overcome until the addicted one chooses that the addiction will no longer have control over them. Remember also, that while an addicted person may no longer choose to allow their addiction to have sway over their life, the addiction itself remains and can regain control without daily, determined effort on the person’s part.

Spiritually our natures are wicked. The Bible says this repeatedly:

“All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3 NIV).

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:5, 6 NIV).

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matthew 15:19 NASB 1995).

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. … Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths” (Isaiah 59:1–4, 6, 7).

Until we recognize what we are and choose to no longer allow sin to have domination over our lives, we will continue to sin. But understand this is not like choosing to wear red socks or blue socks today; once you make the choice, you wear those socks. This choice is an ongoing effort. I am afflicted with this spiritual habit of sinning. I can choose to change this habit, but it is rare that one chooses to change a habit (going cold turkey) and then tomorrow or next week or next year, there is no future temptation.

Let’s look at our first definition of habit – an acquired mode of behavior. Acquired suggests doing or having done something: learning, developing, gaining, or achieving as a result of one’s choosing until it becomes completely involuntary; until we do it without thinking or because to not do it would be unthinkable. Let’s look at some examples from the Bible of individuals who cultivated/achieved the habit of doing what was right.

DANIEL

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (Daniel 6:10). [Emphasis supplied.]

SHADRACH, MESHACH and ABEDNEGO

“Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Daniel 1:6–8). [Emphasis supplied.]

After being threatened with death in the fiery furnace for refusing to worship the golden image, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up’ ” (Daniel 3:16–18). [Emphasis supplied.]

JOSEPH

“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.

“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ ” (Genesis 39:1–9). [Emphasis supplied.]

ABRAHAM

“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’

“Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’ ” (Genesis 22:1, 2).

Imagine Abraham’s agony and confusion. God doesn’t require child sacrifice. Isaac was the child of promise. How was Abraham to do this thing? Could you sacrifice your child, if God asked it, if you had not developed a lifelong faith in and habit of obedience to God?

“So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ Then he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together” (verses 6–8).

Notice, Isaac does not refuse. He understood what was being asked of Abraham and himself, and still he did not refuse; he did not run away which he easily could have done. He submitted with complete trust to His father.

‘Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

“But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’ ” (verses 9–12). [Emphasis supplied.]

Why were all these men able to do the right thing? Do you think they woke up on that particular morning and said, “Today, I’m only going to do what’s right.” I think there are a lot of people who think doing right works just that way. Today I will be better. Today I’m not going to sin at all. What did Daniel do? He purposed in his heart.  What did Joseph say? I cannot do this thing. The three worthies said we will not bow down.  These are statements of commitment, the kind of commitment developed over a lifetime.

We’ve all heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at University College London, and her team did a study on just how long it takes to form a habit and published her findings in the European Journal of Social Psychology. The study included 96 subjects studied over a 12-week period. Each subject chose the habit they wanted to develop and “reported daily on whether or not they did the behavior and how automatic the behavior felt.” In short, this is what they found:

  1. It’s supposed to take time to form a new habit.
  2. Making mistakes is okay, but develop a strategy to get back on track quickly.
  3. It’s a process, not an event.

(taken from How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science) written by James Clear)

Spiritually, the first and third findings can be combined and applied to the habit (addiction) of sinning. Living like that cannot be changed or broken except by choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to transform the life. We can ask as did David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). While the original creation, in which God had perfect material to work with took only a few days, after 6,000 years of sin, change is just going to take time. And then there is that second finding, the one that says we’ll make mistakes. We are, after all, sinners by nature ever able to choose to sin, no matter how truly committed we are not to.

David is referred to in the Bible as “a man after God’s own heart,” and yet David, when he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof, rather than turning away and seeking God’s deliverance from the temptations that were assailing him, he lingered (see James 1:14, 15). He began a not-so-secret relationship with Bathsheba. She became pregnant and in an effort to hide what he had done, he had her husband Uriah killed. Even worse, David’s sin with Bathsheba came nigh to spiritually destroying the children of Israel. He made a mistake, but didn’t utilize that strategy to get back on track mentioned in the second of the study findings.

Peter walked and talked with Jesus for three and a half years during His earthly ministry. Peter committed himself to be ever faithful to Jesus. He refused to believe that he would ever deny Christ and yet, he did three times, just as Jesus said he would (Matthew 26:33). The problem for Peter, and I’d say David and us as well, is that he didn’t know himself as well as he thought he did; so sure of himself that he didn’t know what he really lacked. As the sound of the final denial disappeared into the night, it was then that Peter recognized what he was: a sinner in need of a Saviour. “Peter denied his Lord in the hour of trial, but Jesus did not forsake His poor disciple. Although Peter hated himself, the Lord loved him, and after His resurrection He called him by name and sent him a loving message. Oh, what a kind, loving, compassionate Saviour we have! And He loves us though we err.” That I May Know Him, 285.

Yes, the idea that forming habits takes time and is a process, not an event, reminds us that the development of a Christian character is described in the Spirit of Prophecy as “the work of a lifetime.” My Life Today, 267. The Bible calls this process sanctification – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sanctification is accomplished by our willingness to be transformed and then through the power of the Holy Spirit being transformed day by day.

Sometimes, even when we have fully made the commitment for the Holy Spirit to work this process of sanctification in our lives, we may still make mistakes. But by recognizing what we are and what the remedy is, we know that we can confess those mistakes, repent and be forgiven.

However, we should be keenly aware of how important sanctification and character building are. Ellen White says, “A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next. Those who are under the instruction of Christ in this world will take every divine attainment with them to the heavenly mansions. And in heaven we are continually to improve. How important, then, is the development of character in this life.” Child Guidance, 161.

“It is your work to advance toward perfection, making constant improvement, until at last you are pronounced worthy to receive immortal life. And even then the work of progression will not cease, but will continue throughout eternity.” In Heavenly Places, 186.

I’m working hard every day to develop the habit of clocking in, but am I working as hard to commit my life to the formation of a perfected character by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. …

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. …

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:1, 2, 7, 10, 11).

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Judy Rebarchek is a member of the LandMarks team. She can be contacted at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org.