From the Heart

Beholding Christ, June 16

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17. FH 179.1

Through the power that Jesus gives, we can be “more than conquerors.” But we cannot manufacture this power. Only through the Spirit of God can we receive it. We need a deep insight into the nature of Christ and into the mystery of His love, “which passeth knowledge.” We are to live in the warm, genial rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Nothing but Christ's loving compassion, His divine grace, His almighty power, can enable us to baffle the relentless foe and subdue the opposition of our own hearts. What is our strength? The joy of the Lord. Let the love of Christ fill our hearts, and then we shall be prepared to receive the power that He has for us. FH 179.2

Let us thank God every day for the blessings that are ours. If human agents will humble themselves before God, realizing how inappropriate it is for them to cherish self-sufficiency, realizing their utter inability to do the work that needs to be done in order that their souls may be purified; if they will cast away their own righteousness, Christ will abide in their hearts. He will put His hand to the work of creating them anew and will continue the work till they are complete in Him. FH 179.3

Christ will never neglect the work that has been placed in His hands. He will inspire the resolute disciple with a sense of the perversity, the sin-stained condition, the depravity, of the heart upon which He is working. True penitents learn the uselessness of self-importance. Looking to Jesus, comparing their own defective characters with the Savior's perfect character, they say only, FH 179.4

“In my hand no price I bring;
Simply to thy cross I cling.” FH 179.5

With Isaiah they declare, “Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.”—The Review and Herald, March 31, 1904. FH 179.6