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| Do not think that if you take your position for the Bible truth you will lose your position. You had better lose your position than lose Jesus. You had better be partakers of the self-denial and self-sacrifice of the Lord than to go in your own way seeking to gather to yourself the treasures of this life. You cannot carry any of it into the grave. You will come up from the grave without anything, but if you have Jesus you will have everything. He is all that you will require to stand the test of the day of God, and is not this enough for you?—Manuscript 20, 1894. { Ev 243.3} |
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| I was shown that you were a rough stone from the quarry, which needed much hewing, squaring, and polishing before it could fill a place in the heavenly building. Some of this work has been done for you; but, oh, there is a much greater work yet to be done! You have had a very unhappy spirit. You have seen the rough side of life. You have not had much happiness; but you were the one who stood in your own light, debarring yourself from good. In your youth you encouraged a spirit of discontent; you would not be ruled; you chose to walk in your own way, irrespective of others’ judgment or counsel. You would not submit to be controlled by your stepfather, because you wanted to follow your own way. He did not understand the best way to manage you, and you were determined not to respect his authority. As soon as he would speak to you, you would place yourself upon the defensive. Your combativeness was large, and you would battle everything and everybody that crossed your plans. Even when suggestions were made of a better course to pursue in your plans and labors, you would fly in an instant. You thought you were censured, thought you were blamed, and felt grieved with those who were your true friends. Your imagination was diseased. You thought that everybody was against you and that your lot was exceedingly hard. It has been hard, but you have made it so. { 2T 422.1} |
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| You have but just entered the school of Christ. You have almost everything yet to learn. You do not now dress extravagantly, but you have pride of appearance. You desire to dress with less simplicity. You think considerably more of dress than you should. Christ invites you: Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Submit your neck to the yoke which Christ imposes and you will find in this submission the very happiness that you have tried to gain to yourself in your own way by following your own course. { 3T 335.2} |
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| Were your wife and other members of your family without tact or skill, you would be more excusable in taking the reins so entirely into your own hands; but this not being the case, your course is altogether unwarrantable. After you have kindly informed them concerning your views of cooking and the management of household matters, and intimated what your desires are in this respect, go no further, but let them use your suggestions as they choose. They will be much more likely to be pleasantly influenced to please you than if you resorted to peremptory measures. And even if they do not adapt themselves to your opinions, do not persist in ruling, in having everything done in your own way. You must remember that the natural independence of others should be respected. If your wife does her work in a way convenient to herself, you have no right to interfere with her affairs and fret and burden her with your many suggestions and reflections upon her management. { 4T 128.2} |
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| Everything we have received in this world has come to us through the gracious mercy of Christ. His example shows every man what he should do with God’s entrusted goods. Men will not live an inactive life in the earth after it has been cleansed and purified. It is to become the abode of the saints, the dwelling-place of those who have been doers of the words of Christ, who have been faithful stewards, to whom it will be safe to entrust greater treasure. “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? “If you reveal the fact that selfish principles control your life and character, and lead you to hoard your means to glorify yourself, and you pay no attention to the temporal and spiritual necessities of your fellow men, your destiny will be decided, and you will be left outside the kingdom of God. You have used God’s means in your own way, and after a manner of your own choosing. Those who thus employ their God-entrusted talents, will not develop the character which dwelt in our Lord Jesus Christ, and will not be partakers of the higher riches which are as enduring as eternity. { RH March 31, 1896, par. 4 } |
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| Do not come at your brethren to pick at their faults, to make a drive at their peculiar traits of character. Educate them to better habits, and better traits, by the power of your own example. If you make it evident that you have come to correct them, you will only arouse their combativeness, and do more harm than if you had not come at all. Reveal Jesus to them, that they may behold him and become like him. If you cultivate fault-finding, and take it upon yourself to correct your brethren, you will soon have no other religion save that of picking flaws and finding defects. You cannot benefit the sinner by coming to him in your own way and in your own strength. Christ alone can save him. { ST July 1, 1889, par. 9 } |
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| Through Hosea and Amos God sent message after message, urging repentance and threatening disaster. “You have plowed wickedness,” declared Hosea, “you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your mighty men.” “At dawn the king of Israel shall be cut off utterly.” Hosea 10:13, 15. Unable to discern the disastrous results their evil course would bring, the ten tribes were soon to be “wanderers among the nations.” Hosea 9:17. { RR 105.2 } |
