Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12, NIV. By accepting Christ as His personal Saviour, man is brought into the same close relation to God, and enjoys His special favor as does His own beloved Son. He is honored and glorified and intimately associated with God, his life being hid with Christ in God. O what love, what wondrous love! This is my teaching of moral purity. The opening of the blackness of impurity will not be one half as efficacious in uprooting sin as will the presentation of these grand and ennobling themes…. The Bible and the Bible alone has given the true lessons upon purity. Then preach the Word. Such is the grace of God, such the love wherewith He hath loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, enemies in our minds by wicked works, serving divers lusts and pleasures, the slaves of debase appetites and passion, servants of sin and Satan. What depth of love is manifested in Christ, as He becomes the propitiation for our sins. Through the ministration of the Holy Spirit souls are led to find forgiveness of sins. The purity, the holiness, of the life of Jesus as presented from the Word of God possess more power to reform and transform the character than do all the efforts put forth in picturing sins and crimes of men and the sure results. One steadfast look to the Saviour uplifted upon the cross will do more to purify the mind and heart from every defilement than will all the scientific explanations by the ablest tongue. Before the cross the sinner sees his unlikeness of character to Christ. He sees the terrible consequences of transgression; he hates the sin that he has practiced, and he lays hold upon Jesus by living faith. He has judged his position of uncleanness in the light of the presence of God and the heavenly intelligence. He has measured it by the standard of the cross. He has weighed it in the balances of the sanctuary. The purity of Christ has revealed to him his own impurity in its odious colors. He turns from the defiling sin; he looks to Jesus and lives. He finds an all-absorbing, commanding, attractive character in Jesus Christ, the one who died to deliver him from the deformity of sin, and with quivering lip and tearful eye he declares, “He shall not have died for me in vain.” “Thy gentleness hath made me great” (Letter 102, 1894). As a shield from temptation and an inspiration to purity and truth, no other influence can equal the sense of God’s presence (Education, 255). This text is from the devotional book Lift Him Up by Ellen G. White.

The Voice of the True Shepherds.

Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? John 10:32. Jesus declared Himself to be the true shepherd, because He gave His life for the sheep. He says: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Jesus spoke these words in the hearing of a large concourse of people, and a deep impression was made upon the hearts of many who listened. The scribes and Pharisees were filled with jealousy because He was regarded with favor by many…. While He represented Himself as the True Shepherd, the Pharisees said, “He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?” But others distinguished the voice of the True Shepherd, and said: “These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? … And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not…. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…. I and my Father are one.” With what firmness and power He uttered these words. The Jews had never before heard such words from human lips, and a convicting influence attended them; for it seemed that divinity flashed through humanity as Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” … Jesus looked upon them calmly and unshrinkingly, and said, “Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me?” The Majesty of heaven stood, calmly assured, as a god before His adversaries. Their scowling faces, their hands filled with stones, did not intimidate Him. He knew that unseen forces, legions of angels, were round about Him, and at one word from His lips they would strike with dismay the throng, should they offer to cast upon Him a single stone. He stood before them undaunted. Why did not the stones fly to the mark? It was because divinity flashed through humanity, and they received a revelation, and were convicted that His were no common claims. The hands relax and the stones fall to the ground. His words had asserted His divinity, but now His personal presence, the light of His eye, the majesty of His attitude, bore witness to the fact that He was the beloved Son of God (The Signs of the Times, November 27, 1893). This text is from the devotional book Lift Him Up by Ellen G. White.

In Meekness Feed the Lambs, And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. James 3:18. The true minister of Christ should be encircled by an atmosphere of spiritual light, because he is connected with the world of light, and walks with Christ, who is the light of the world. Arguments may be resisted, persuasion and entreaty may be scorned, the most eloquent appeals, supported by the rigor of logic, may be disregarded; but a living character of righteousness, a daily piety in the walks of life, an anxiety for the sinner wherever found, the spirit of truth burning in the heart, beaming from the countenance, and breathing from the lips in every word, constitute a sermon which is hard to resist or to set aside, and which makes the strongholds of Satan tremble. Ministers who walk with God are clad with the panoply of heaven, and victory will attend their efforts. Those who are engaged in the great and solemn work of warning the world should not only have an individual experience in the things of God, but they should cultivate love for one another, and should labor to be of one mind, of one judgment, to see eye-to-eye. The absence of this love greatly pleases our wily foe. He is the author of envy, jealousy, hatred, and dissension; and he rejoices to see these vile weeds choke out love, that tender plant of heavenly growth. It does not please God to have His servants censure, criticize, and condemn one another. He has given them a special work, that of standing in defense of the truth. They are His workmen; all should respect them, and they should respect one another. In the army, officers are required to respect their fellow officers, and the privates soon learn the lesson. When the leaders of the people in Christian warfare are kind and forbearing, and manifest a special love and regard for their colaborers, they teach others to do the same. The reputation of a fellow laborer is to be sacredly guarded. If one sees faults in another, he is not to magnify them before others, and make them grievous sins. They may be errors of judgment, that God will give divine grace to overcome. If He had seen that angels, who are perfect, would have done the work for the fallen race better than men, He would have committed it to them. But instead of this He sent the needed assistance by poor, weak, erring mortals, who, having like infirmities as their fellowmen, are best prepared to help them. There was Peter, who denied his Lord…. Before Peter’s feet slipped, he had not the spirit of meekness required to feed the lambs; but after he became sensible of his own weakness … he could come close to their side in tender sympathy, and could help them (Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 120, 121). This text is from the devotional book Lift Him Up by Ellen G. White.