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| We cannot afford to lose heaven. We ought to have our conversation on heavenly things. There there is no death nor pain. Why are we so reluctant to talk of these things? Why do we dwell upon earthly things? The apostle exhorts us to have our conversation in heaven. "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). . . . Christ will soon return to gather those who are prepared, and take them to this glorious place. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28). {HP 370.3} |
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| We cannot afford to lose heaven. We ought to have our conversation on heavenly things. There there is no death nor pain. Why are we so reluctant to talk of these things? Why do we dwell upon earthly things? The apostle exhorts us to have our conversation in heaven. "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). . . . Christ will soon return to gather those who are prepared, and take them to this glorious place. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28). Maranatha, page 331.2 |
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| You have a work to do which you should begin at once. Satan will stand by your side, as he did by the side of Christ in the wilderness of temptation, to overcome you with reasonings, to pervert your judgment, and to paralyze your sense of right and equity. If you do justice in one instance, you must not wait for Satan to overpower your good impulses by his reasoning. You have so long been controlled by selfishness and covetousness that you cannot trust yourself. I do not want you to lose heaven. I have been shown the selfish acts of your life, your close scheming and figuring, your bartering, and the advantage which you have taken of your brethren and fellow men. God has every instance written in the book. Will you pray to Him to enlighten your mind to see where you have overreached, and then will you repent and redeem the past? {3T 550.2} |
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| You have no time to lose, but should make diligent efforts to overcome the marked traits in your character, which, if indulged, will close the doors of glory against you. You cannot afford to lose heaven. You now need to make a decided change in your words and deeds, to overcome your avaricious spirit, and to turn your thoughts into the channel of sanctified truth. In short, you need to be transformed. Then God will accept your labors in His cause. You should be a man of such undeviating veracity that the love of gain will not seduce you and no temptation overcome you. The Lord requires of all who profess His name a strict adherence to truth. This will be as salt which has not lost its savor, as a light amid the moral darkness and deception of the world. {4T 356.1} |
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| Every one is called upon to act according to the ability God has given him. He must render his service faithfully or he will sully his conscience, and imperil his soul. No one can afford to lose heaven. Remember the words of Christ to all His followers: "Ye are the light of the world." God depends on those who know the way, to show it to others. He has entrusted to men the treasure of His truth. It is faith and trust and confidence in God that we need. Inward grace will be revealed in the outward actions. We need that spirit which will show to others that we have been learning in the school of Christ and that we copy the pattern given us. We want a heart that is not lifted up unto vanity, a mind not settled on self. Each should have a constant desire to bless others. God notices our humble efforts, and they are precious in His sight. You both need home piety, sweet, satisfied contentment, without faultfinding, pettishness, scolding, or severity. Let kindness and love be the rule of your household. Whoever does not let the light of truth shine in his home dishonors the Saviour. {5T 568.2} |
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| It is a terrible thing to be self-deceived; for many will, because of self-confidence and self-sufficiency, be eternally lost. Now, just now, is the time to wash our robes of character, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. We cannot afford to lose heaven. Awful will be the revelation to those who find that the books of heaven testify that they have permitted themselves to become Satan's helpers in deceiving other souls, and causing them also to lose eternal life. Inexpressible sad is the picture of those whom others will charge with the loss of their souls. Eternal life was within their reach, but their deluded, proud hearts were not broken, and they refused to confess their sins. {19MR 374.1} |
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| The Lord will have a tried people. We are to be tested and proved, to see whether we are worthy of an entrance into the city of God, to have right to the tree of life. If we gain eternal life, we gain everything; and if we lose it, we lose everything; it would be better for us had we never been born than to lose heaven. It is only as we depend upon the strength and righteousness of Christ that we can stand the testing of God. We shall have to educate the mind, and again and again bring to our remembrance the fact that Christ has his hand upon us. With his own divine lips he has said, "Without me ye can do nothing," but through Christ we can do all things. It is not for us to mark out the way in which we shall walk; but if we take everything that comes to us as in the providence of God, even our tribulation will work patience, and we need not sink in discouragement while we look by faith to Jesus. When the fogs and mists rise here in Oakland, you cannot see the sun, but you do not despair of ever seeing the sun again. You know that behind the clouds the sun is still shining. And by and by the mists roll back, and the sun shines forth, and gladdens the hearts of men by its radiant beams. Then why should we despair when our spiritual sky is clouded? Can we not have faith that the Sun of Righteousness is still shining? Can we not say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth"? We should let our faith penetrate the darkness. It is Satan that casts his dark shadow between our souls and God so that we may not see Jesus; but by living faith we may keep him in view, and let nothing interpose between the soul and God. Then you will be in a position where you can rejoice in tribulation. {ST, March 28, 1892 par. 3} |
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| In order to be the blessing to the world which God would have his children, we need to pray and to watch unto prayer. Never should we be placed in a position where we shall be so pressed by care that we shall neglect the study of the Bible or fail to attend the prayer and social meeting. We are not to lose heaven out of our reckoning. The things which belong unto our eternal happiness, which make rich and add no sorrow, are not to be crowded out of our minds by any manner of responsibility. It is not the getting of houses and lands, heaping up treasure on earth, that is to give us peace and happiness; but it is our connection with God, a realization that we are laborers together with him, that is to constitute our joy. We have no right to place ourselves where we shall be loaded down with cares, that will lessen and finally supplant the influence of the truth upon us to sanctify the soul. Let us remember that every moment is charged with responsibility, and that we are to deal with all in the highest integrity, both as regards this life and that which is to come. {ST, September 4, 1893 par. 9} |
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