Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1, RSV).
“The worst thing — the most grievous — is the want of love and the want of compassion for one another. That,” Mrs. White told the delegates, “is what God presented in such a light before me, and I wanted to say to you that if ever there was time when we should humble ourselves before God, it is now. . .
“It has been Satan’s studied work to keep the love of Christ out of our hearts. . . There is a great lot of ceremony and form. What we want is the love of Christ, to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. When we have this, there will be a breaking down as with the walls of Jericho before the children of Israel. But there is such an amount of selfishness and desire of supremacy in our ranks. . .
“The lower we lie at the foot of the cross, the more clear will be our view of Christ. . .”
“What are God and Jesus doing? . . . They are cleansing the sanctuary. Well, we should be with [them] in this work and be cleansing the sanctuary of our souls of all unrighteousness, that our names may be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that our sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. . .
“You have no time to be exalting self, but [only to] lift Jesus up. Oh, lift Him up! How can we do this? . . . May the God of heaven let His power come upon your hearts that we may have right characters and pure hearts and know how to labor for the sick [and] suffering. . .
“Just as soon as we love God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves, God will work though us. How shall we stand in the time of the latter rain?” Only if we have His love.
“The love of Christ in the heart will do more to convert sinners than all the sermons you can preach. What we need is to get the love of Christ, that we may study the Bible and know what saith the Scriptures. . . Now, brethren, we might as well tear away the rubbish from the doors of our hearts now. . . for we have no time to waste” (MS 26, 1888; italics supplied).
And that’s the truth. Today is the day of our salvation. To your knees, O Israel!
Father in heaven, these past few days I have realized as never before the absolute centrality of love in genuine Christianity. Help me this very day to be a more fruitful channel of your love in my family, in my workplace, in . . .
