Editorial – Personal Piety

“And add to your faith … godliness [ piety ].” II Peter 1:5, 6.

“Let personal piety pervade your homes.” The Review and Herald, November 29, 1898.

“In His sermon on the mount, Christ presented to the people the fact that personal piety was their strength.” Ibid., April 30, 1895.

“The gospel is dependent on the personal piety of its believers for its aggressive power.” Ibid., March 24, 1891.

“Cultivate personal piety.” The Upward Look, 239.

“Philanthropy, however widespread, cannot take the place of personal piety.” This Day With God, 80.

“As the time drew near for the Son of God to make His first advent, Satan became more vigilant in preparing the hearts of the Jewish people to be steeled against the evidences he should bring of His Messiahship. The Jews had become proud and boastful. The purity of the priesthood had not been preserved, but was fearfully corrupted. They retained the forms and ceremonies of their system of worship, while their hearts were not in the work. They did not sustain personal piety and virtuous characters. And the more they were wanting in the qualifications necessary to the sacred work, as priests of the most high God, the more tenacious were they of outward show of piety, zeal, and devotion.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, 12.

“If there ever was a time when serious reflection becomes every one who fears God, it is now, when personal piety is essential. The inquiry should be made, ‘What am I, and what is my work and mission in this time? On which side am I working—Christ’s side or the enemy’s side?’ Let every soul now humble himself or herself before God, for now we are surely living in the great Day of Atonement. The cases even now of many are passing in review before God, for they are to sleep in their graves a little season. Your profession of faith is not your guarantee in that day, but the state of your affections. Is the soul-temple cleansed of its defilement? Are my sins confessed and am I repenting of them before God, that they may be blotted out? Do I esteem myself too lightly? Am I willing to make any and every sacrifice for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ? Do I feel every moment I am not my own, but Christ’s property, that my service belongs to God, whose I am?” Last Day Events, 72, 73.