SD 182, 200
(Sons and Daughters of God 182, 200)
To Accept the Light God Sends, June 24 VC
O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Psalm 43:3. (SD 182.1) MC VC
The Lord Jesus came to our world full of mercy, life, and light, ready to save those who should come unto Him. But He can save no one against his will. God does not force the conscience; He does not torture the body that He may compel men to compliance with His law. All this work is after the order of Satan.... (SD 182.2) MC VC
The Lord has made it apparent that He proffers to the sinner the privilege of cooperating with God. He gives light, and furnishes evidence of the truth. He makes plain what are His requirements, and it is left with the sinner as to whether he will accept the truth, and receive grace and power by which he may comply with every condition, and find rest in giving willing service to Jesus Christ, who has paid the price of his redemption. If the sinner hesitates, and fails to appreciate the light that has reached his intellect and stirred the emotions of his soul, and refuses to render obedience to God, the light grows dim, has less and less force, and finally vanishes from his view. Those who fail to appreciate the first rays of light, will not heed more decided evidences of the truth. If the tender appeals of God fail to meet with a response in the heart of the sinner, the first impressions made upon his mind lose their significance, and he is finally left in darkness. The invitation is full of love. The light is as bright when he finally refuses it, as when it first dawned upon his soul; but through rejection of light, his soul becomes full of darkness, and does not realize what is the peril of disregarding the light. Christ says to such a soul, “Yet a little while is the light with you.”81 (SD 182.3) MC VC
Today make your calling and election sure. Peter gives a copy of the best life insurance policy in the world. He says: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you ... according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.”82 (SD 182.4) MC VC
Walking in the Light Brings Courage, July 12 VC
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8. (SD 200.1) MC VC
“Walk in the light.” To walk in the light means to resolve, to exercise thought, to exert will-power, in an earnest endeavor to represent Christ in sweetness of character. It means to put away all gloom. You are not to rest satisfied simply in saying, “I am a child of God.” Are you beholding Jesus, and, by beholding, becoming changed into His likeness? To walk in the light means advancement and progress in spiritual attainments. Paul declared, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but ... forgetting those things which are behind,” constantly beholding the Pattern, I reach “forth unto those things which are before.” To walk in the light means to “walk uprightly,” to walk “in the way of the Lord,” to “walk by faith,” to “walk in the Spirit,” to “walk in the truth,” to “walk in love,” to “walk in the newness of life.” It is “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (SD 200.2) MC VC
What a terrible thing it is to darken the pathway of others by bringing shadow and gloom upon ourselves! Let each one take heed to himself. Charge not upon others your defections of character.... Talk light; walk in the light. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”... Gather to your souls the courage that can come only from the Light of the world.25 (SD 200.3) MC VC
When the light of heaven shines upon the human agent, his countenance will express the joy of the Lord within. It is the absence of Christ from the soul that makes people sad and of a doubtful mind. It is the want of Christ that makes the countenance sad, and the life is a pilgrimage of sighs. Rejoicing is the very keynote of the Word of God for all who receive Him. Why? Because they have the Light of life. Light brings gladness and joy, and that joy is expressed in the life and the character.26 (SD 200.4) MC VC