June 30 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
TRUE HOLINESS IS FROM THE HEART, NOT FROM THE LIPS
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are ABOVE, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things ABOVE, not on the things on the earth.” Col. 3: 1,2, KJV.
True heart holiness can only be possible when the law or covenant of God is written in the heart, not merely professed by the lips. See Jer. 31: 33; cf. Deut. 4:13.
“When the law of God is written [also ‘etched’] in the heart it will be EXHIBITED in a pure and holy life. The commandments of God are no dead letter [merely to be memorized, lectured, catechized or pontificates upon]. THEY ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE, ‘bringing the imagination and even the thoughts into subjection to the will of Christ.’
“The danger that lies before those living in these last days, is the ABSENCE of pure religion, the absence of heart holiness. The converting power of God has NOT wrought in transforming their characters.
“They PROFESS to believe sacred truths AS DID THE JEWISH NATION; but in failing to PRACTICE the truth, they are ignorant BOTH of the SCRIPTURES and the POWER of God. The power and influence of God’s Law are ROUND ABOUT but NOT WITHIN the soul, renewing it in true holiness.
“What a man [woman or youth like Joseph, Daniel and Timothy] is, has greater influence than what he SAYS. The quiet, consistent, godly life is ‘A LIVING EPISTLE, known and read of all men.’
“A man may speak and write like an ANGEL, but his practices may resemble a FALLEN FIEND [angel].
“True character is not shaped from without, or put on, but it is something RADIATING FROM WITHIN. If true godliness, purity, meekness, lowliness, and equity are dwelling in the heart, that fact will be REFLECTED in the character; and such a character is full of power.” E. G. White, This Day with God, 146.
The thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character. Bless all. NMF