Resolutions for the New Year, December 26
This one thing
I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be
thus minded: and if in
any thing ye be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this
unto you. Philippians 3:13-15. {UL 374.1}
Yesterday
was Christmas. Did you do as the Wise Men did by offering your gifts to Jesus?
Or has the enemy changed the order of things, and directed the worship to
himself? The gifts are now bestowed upon friends instead of Him who has made so
great a sacrifice for us. All the gifts should flow in another channel, where
they could be used in the salvation of men. {UL 374.2}
The new
year is just before us. Shall not the gifts be turned to a better account than
heretofore? Shall not confession be made and shall we not avail ourselves of
the blood of Christ, who is able and willing to cleanse from all sin? For our
sakes Christ became poor. {UL 374.3}
In the
last great day we shall be judged in accordance with
what we have done. Christ will say, “I was an hungred,
and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?”
(Matthew 25:42-44). Christ will then say, “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, ye did it not to me” (verse 45). And Christ will say,
“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels” (verse 41). {UL 374.4}
Christ
came and set the example in sacrificing, and if we are Christ’s, then we will
do the works of Christ. Instead of pleasing ourselves, we will be seeking to do
others good, and to impart benefits to suffering humanity. And unless this is
done, we cannot expect to have a part with Christ. {UL 374.5}
There
are souls to be saved all around us, and each has a work to do to be reconciled
to Christ. This is the work to take hold of in the new year. We are living for
time and eternity, and we want the light to flash upon our pathway and in
return we want to extend its blessings to others.... {UL 374.6}
Let each
strive to have a better record for the coming year, and live so near to God
that you may be surrounded with the atmosphere of heaven, and thus be a
representative of Christ.—Manuscript 60, December 26, 1886, a sermon preached
in the Tramelan, Switzerland, town hall, John Vuilleumier translating. {UL 374.7}