08/17/2024
From the book "Faith That Distinguishes," August 18, 1902. By Ellen White.
Using Your Talent of Influence, August 17
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Romans 14:7.
There is constant temptation for human beings to consider that any influence they have gained is the result of something valuable in themselves. The Lord does not work with these, for He will not give to any human being the glory that belongs to His own name. God would have everyone under His supervision, and recognize that to God belongs all the glory of their success.…
If the human worker will walk in all humility of mind, looking to God, trusting in Him, working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, the Lord will cooperate with him. It is God that works in us to do His will for His own name’s glory. He will give His wisdom, His divine power, to everyone who is doing His service. He makes the humble trustful servant His representative—the one who will not lift himself up, and think of himself more highly than he ought to think. The life of such an one will be dedicated to God as a living sacrifice, and that life He will accept and use and sustain.…
Our life is not our own. It is Christ’s life. All is His, and we are to spend our powers in doing the will of God. Watch and pray; spend and be spent in doing His will from the heart. Carry every entrusted capability as a sacred treasure, to be used in imparting to others the knowledge and grace received.…
Nehemiah, after gaining so great an influence over the [Persian] monarch in whose court he lived, and over his people in Jerusalem, instead of ascribing praise to his own excellent traits of character, his remarkable aptness and energy, stated the manner just as it was. He declared that his success was due to the good hand of God that was upon him. He cherished the truth that God was his safeguard in every position of influence. For every trait of character by which he obtained favor, he praised the working power of God.… And God gave him wisdom, because he did not exalt himself. The Lord taught him how to use the gifts entrusted to him to the very best advantage, and under the supervision of God, these talents gained other talents.…
Every jot of influence is to be appreciated as the gift of God. The eye of the mind is to be single to the glory of God. Then the sense of responsibility will increase. Our talents will be put out to the exchangers to increase and double. There are hundreds of men and women who, if they had a proper appreciation of the heavenly trust, would go diligently and earnestly to work to use what they have.—Letter 83, August 17, 1898, to a leading minister in Australia.
Faith That Distinguishes, August 18
Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Malachi 3:18.
An awakening power must be revealed in every believer. We must no longer act like sinners, while as Christians we should be revealing a living, saving faith. Living faith in Christ Jesus will produce fruit. There will be a holy, unwavering devotion to the Lord. Laboring with an eye single to His glory, we shall be sustained amidst the perils of the last days.
What has sustained Christians in every age, amidst reproaches, temptations, and sufferings? A pure, trusting faith, constantly exercised to understand what is truth which sanctifies the receiver, a committing of the keeping of the soul to God, under any and every circumstance, as unto One whom they knew would not betray their trust. Our Creator will keep that which is committed unto Him against that day.
Christ, by His sacrifice to save sinners, evidenced His great love for the human soul. He gave His life to secure our salvation. What an insult so many, deceived by Satan’s temptations, offer to the Saviour by abusing their privileges, refusing to acknowledge His loving interest in them. Yet He, their Creator and Redeemer, bears long with them in their persistent disdain of His mercies. As this matter is daily urged upon my mind, I am so astonished that I cannot hold my peace. I long to reach sinners, and to cry out to them, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Christ with His own blood has bought the whole human family. We are His purchased possession. He desires those who claim to believe in Him, to receive His power, that in this wicked and perverse generation they may become sons of God, and that they may reveal to a world entranced and corrupted by Satan, that God is love and [that] there is a difference, plain and distinct, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him [not]. The Lord knoweth them that are His.
The line of demarcation between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not is becoming more and more distinct. This is as the Lord designs it should be. An active, living faith distinguishes the people of God from the sinful, who by their rejection of Christ bear continually to the world a plain testimony: “I will not have this man Christ Jesus to rule over me. I will not eat and drink to the glory of God, but will follow my inclination, eating and drinking as I please. I will not wear the yoke of Christ; I will not learn His lessons of meekness and lowliness of heart; I will have my own way, and live in this world a life of pleasure.”—Letter 131, August 18, 1902, to Emma White.
White, E. G. (1982). The Upward Look (pp. 243–244). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
