Living Today

When we look around, we see the world heaving and groaning, and the signs that Jesus told us about are playing out before our eyes. Wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against other nations, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and persecution (Matt. 24:6–11) are happening all around us and seem only to be intensifying as time rolls on. Yes, we live in serious times—times when we need an abiding relationship with God.

We are told, “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers” (1 Pet. 4:7, NKJV). If so then, even more so now is the time to fortify and strengthen your personal relationship with God. And regardless of how long time lasts, our individual lives are always short, no matter how long we live. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:13, 14, NKJV). We know how true that warning is. Some of you who are reading these words right now might not be alive when the day ends. This is part of the sad reality of living in a fallen world. How crucial, then, is it to make sure of our relationship with God and always to live in awareness of our need of Him and His saving grace?

We all need revival in our lives. It’s so easy to get complacent or even to be forgetful of what God has done and is doing for us. What faithful believer, even if struggling, could not pray something like this: “Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!” (Ps. 80:19, NKJV)? When you accept what Jesus has done for you, when you know that your sins have been forgiven and that you are covered by His perfect righteousness, credited to you by faith, you can know that you are saved in Him.

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Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White

God is the source of life and light and joy to the universe. Like rays of light from the sun, like the streams of water bursting from a living spring, blessings flow out from Him to all His creatures. And wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men, it will flow out to others in love and blessing.
Our Saviour’s joy was in the uplifting and redemption of fallen men. For this He counted not His life dear unto Himself, but endured the cross, despising the shame. So angels are ever engaged in working for the happiness of others. This is their joy. That which selfish hearts would regard as humiliating service, ministering to those who are wretched and in every way inferior in character and rank, is the work of sinless angels. The spirit of Christ’s self-sacrificing love is the spirit that pervades heaven and is the very essence of its bliss. This is the spirit that Christ’s followers will possess, the work that they will do.
When the love of Christ is enshrined in the heart, like sweet fragrance it cannot be hidden. Its holy influence will be felt by all with whom we come in contact. The spirit of Christ in the heart is like a spring in the desert, flowing to refresh all and making those who are ready to perish, eager to drink of the water of life.
Love to Jesus will be manifested in a desire to work as He worked for the blessing and uplifting of humanity. It will lead to love, tenderness, and sympathy toward all the creatures of our heavenly Father’s care.
The Saviour’s life on earth was not a life of ease and devotion to Himself, but He toiled with persistent, earnest, untiring effort for the salvation of lost mankind. From the manger to Calvary He followed the path of self-denial and sought not to be released from arduous tasks, painful travels and exhausting care and labor. He said, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28. This was the one great object of His life. Everything else was secondary and subservient. It was His meat and drink to do the will of God and to finish His work. Self and self-interest had no part in His labor.
So those who are the partakers of the grace of Christ will be ready to make any sacrifice, that others for whom He died may share the heavenly gift. They will do all they can to make the world better for their stay in it. This spirit is the sure outgrowth of a soul truly converted. No sooner does one come to Christ than there is born in his heart a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus; the saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart. If we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ and are filled with the joy of His indwelling Spirit, we shall not be able to hold our peace. If we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good we shall have something to tell. Like Philip when he found the Saviour, we shall invite others into His presence. We shall seek to present to them the attractions of Christ and the unseen realities of the world to come. There will be an intensity of desire to follow in the path that Jesus trod. There will be an earnest longing that those around us may “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.
And the effort to bless others will react in blessings upon ourselves. This was the purpose of God in giving us a part to act in the plan of redemption. He has granted men the privilege of becoming partakers of the divine nature and, in their turn, of diffusing blessings to their fellow men. This is the highest honor, the greatest joy, that it is possible for God to bestow upon men. Those who thus become participants in labors of love are brought nearest to their Creator.—Steps to Christ, pp. 77–79.