| Live Every Day As Though It Might Be the Last |
Today's Text:
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Matthew 24:42-44
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The Message:
God gives no one a message that it will be ten or twenty years before this earth's history shall close. If it were forty or one hundred years, the Lord would not authorize anyone to proclaim it. He would not give any living being an excuse for delaying the preparation for His appearing. He would have no one say, as did the unfaithful servant, "My Lord delayeth his coming," for this leads to reckless neglect of opportunities and privileges to prepare for that great day. Every soul who claims to be a servant of God is called to do His service as if every day might be the last.
Let all who would cooperate with God unite in proclaiming the present truth, the message of the third angel: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image, and whose receiveth the mark of his name." Then the eyes of John rest upon God's people, and he exclaims, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." [Revelation 14:9-12.]
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." [Verses 13-15.] Read the following verses, 16-20; also chapter 15. Let all these things be the subject of mediation.
The words of Christ have a direct application to this time, "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is that faithful and wise servant, ... whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing? Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods." [Matthew 24:42-47.]
Let everyone to whom the Lord has given light from His Word be sure to make a right use of that light. Let all be guarded that they do not presume to feed the flock of God with food that is not appropriate for the time.
"Lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." [Isaiah 58:1.] Talk of the speedy appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Put not off that day. God has given no one light to say, "My Lord delayeth his coming." Let the inquiry be made, Shall I stand at the right hand or at the left hand of the Judge at that day? "Seeing all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." [2 Peter 3:11.]
"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants"-how? by his words, by expressing suspicion, by his evil thinking and evil speaking. It is thus that confidence is changed to doubt and unbelief-"and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." [Matthew 24:48-51.]
It is essential that all shall know what atmosphere surrounds their own souls, whether they are in copartnership with the enemy of righteousness and unconsciously doing his work, or whether they are linked up with Christ, doing His work, and seeking to establish souls more firmly in the truth.
Satan would be pleased to have anyone and everyone become his allies to weaken the confidence believers have in one another, and to sow discord among those who profess to believe the truth. Satan can accomplish his purposes most successfully through professed friends of Christ who are not walking and working in Christ's lines. Those who in mind and heart are turning away from the Lord's special work for this time, those who do not cooperate with Him in establishing souls in the faith by leading them to heed His words of warning, are doing the work of the enemy of Christ.
It is a most serious matter to go from house to house, and under pretense of doing missionary work, cast in the seed of mistrust and suspicion. Each one speedily germinates, and there is created a distrust of God's servants who have His message to bear to the people. When God speaks through His servants, the seed sown [of mistrust and suspicion] has developed into a root of bitterness. The word falls upon hearts that will not hear, on hearts that will not respond. No earthly or heavenly power can find access to the soul.
Who is accountable for these souls? Who shall eradicate that poisonous root of bitterness that has prevented them from receiving the word of the Lord? A good sister or a brother planted the evil seed, but how can that one restore the soul thus imperiled? The tongue that should have been used to the glory of God in speaking words of hope and faith and confidence in God's workmen has turned away a soul from Jesus Christ. Those who themselves despised the words of Christ, and refused to hear His voice and to be converted, have leavened other minds with the leaven of evil surmisings and evil speaking.
This is the day of the Lord's preparation. We have no time now to talk unbelief and to gossip, no time now to do the devil's work. Let every one beware of unsettling the faith of others by sowing seeds of envy, jealousy, disunion; for God hears the words, and judges, not by assertions, which are yea and nay, but by the fruit one's course of action produces. "By their fruits ye shall know them." [Matthew 7:20.] The seed sown will determine the character of the harvest. So long as the people of God are in this world they will have to meet conflict and trouble and deception, because many choose the attributes of Satan instead of the attributes of God.-Manuscript 32a, 1896 (Manuscript Releases 18:58-62).
*Note: I have added in the parts that were left out by the compilers for what ever reason, that the true sentiment of the author may be seen. These parts are underlined.
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Commentary:
My friend, while we are seeking to share the good news of Christ's soon return, we should live every day as though it were our last. As we live our lives in this way, we will daily consecrate ourselves to God, receiving His Spirit within our hearts that we may do the work that He has for us today.
So many in the church today are living their lives for themselves deceiving themselves into believing that they are living for God. These have a form of godliness but deny the power of God to transform their lives. They are living in this way because they are looking unto God as a trinity rather than upon the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ. As such they have a false experience of righteousness by faith.
The Jews in the time of Christ had an outward appearance of righteousness, but of this Jesus said "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matthew 23:27, 28). The same is true of Seventh-day Adventists today. They think that they have the righteousness of Christ, and on the outside it appears so, but in their hearts they are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17).
They are in this condition because they have accepted the trinity as their god, and are deceived by it. It has the outward form of God but is not, for God is not a trinity but a individual being. He is the One true God who manifests Himself to us through His Son.
If we are to live each day as though it were our last, we need to seek to know God in the pages of holy writ. Then as we study the word of God, we would find that Jesus is the way to the Father for He said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6). We would find that Jesus is truly the Son of God and is not merely a role that one of the god-beings has played for our salvation. We would find that the Holy Spirit is not a being unto itself, but is truly the Spirit of God. We would find that the Comforter that Jesus was to send from the Father was not another being, but was Himself in a different form, and that He would be with us always by His Spirit, not the spirit of another.
My friend, Jesus is the way of salvation and as we look unto Him, we will be transformed into His lovely image. As we invite Him into our hearts it is no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us. Thus by His life are we saved. To live each day as it were our last is to have Christ manifested in our hearts.
God bless,
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Video of the Week
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| The Doctrine of Christ - David Clayton |
What is the central focus, the key element of the Christian faith? What is the "doctrine of Christ?" Unless we understand this doctrine we may spend our energies seeking the wrong thing and never really enter into the experience that God wants us to have.
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