November 2025 - Magazine - Page 70
Mi n i str i es
OUT of TIME
Placing Self Aside
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Philippians 3:7.
It is through the church that the self-sacrificing love of Jesus is to be
made manifest to the world; but by the present example of the
church the character of Christ is misrepresented, and a false conception of Him is given to the world. Self-love excludes the love of
Jesus from the soul, and this is why there is not in the church greater zeal and more fervent love for Him who first loved us. Self is supreme in so many hearts. Their thoughts, their time, their money,
are given to self-gratification, while souls for whom Christ died are
perishing.
This is why the Lord cannot impart to His church the fullness of His
blessing. To honor them in a distinguished manner before the world
would be to put His seal upon their works, confirming their false
representation of His character. When the church shall come out
from the world, and be separate from its maxims, habits, and practices, the Lord Jesus will work with His people; He will pour a large
measure of His Spirit upon them, and the world will know that the
Father loves them. Will the people of God continue to be so stupefied with selfishness? His blessing hangs over them, but it cannot be
bestowed in its fullness because they are so corrupted with the
spirit and practices of the world. There is spiritual pride among
them; and should the Lord work as His heart longs to do, it would
but confirm them in their self-esteem and self-exaltation.
Shall Christ continue to be misrepresented by our people? Shall the
grace of God, the divine enlightenment, be shut away from His
church, because of their lukewarmness? It will be, unless there is
most thorough seeking of God, renunciation of the world, and
humbling of the soul before God. The converting power of God
must pass through our churches.4The Home Missionary, November
1, 1890.
Ellen G.White
