Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Lt 270, 1908

Reaser, G. W.

St. Helena, California

September 23, 1908

This letter is published in entirety in LLM 389-390. +^Note

Elder G. W. Reaser
257 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, California

Dear Brother Reaser:

I hope that you will not again undertake the responsibilities connected with the Southern California Conference. It would be better for you to be in another field and let new talent come into Southern California. 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 1

In some respects there are decided changes to be made in your character. Wherever you labor, you are to understand that while you are to stand as firm as a rock to principle, you are not to be a driver, but a fellow laborer with your brethren. You are not to seek to rule, and dictate, and compel, but to be teachable in spirit, kind in disposition, and to be one with your brethren. It would be a serious mistake to place you again in a position which your past experience has shown that you have not wisdom to fill. The peculiar traits of your character lead you to desire to be a leader, but I have been shown that it would not be wisdom for you to occupy the position of the president of the Southern California Conference another year. 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 2

I write this to you lest you should suppose that because there is some hindrance to the arrival of the one who was chosen for the presidency of Southern California, you should retain the position. We need for the place a man who has less confidence in his own human judgment, one who will act as Christ acted, who, though Himself the prince of life, made Himself of no reputation, and coming to a world that was all seared and marred with the curse, placed Himself as one among the most needy and dependent. When He revealed Himself to the world as its Saviour, He said, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” [Matthew 11:29.] 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 3

The presidents of our conferences must be men who are not self-sufficient and dictatorial. They must not give place to the idea that the office of president comprehends a vast amount of rulership. With such ideas they will leave impressions upon minds that will do injury to the work. Precious privileges will be lost to the people when presidents minutely define and direct the work of their co-laborers. 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 4

As a people we are to be purified from our natural habits and desires. Our hearts must be changed, or we cannot correctly represent the Lord Jesus who gave His life for us. The Son of God took humanity upon Him that He might make it possible for humanity to take hold upon divinity through the exercise of a perfect faith. Christ is our example for the development of a perfect character. Through the strength we receive from Him, we may be overcomers. In seeking Him for those things that we need, we must exercise a faith that will not be denied. We must represent Him by following humbly in His footsteps. Through belief in His merits and practice of the truth, we shall receive of His grace, and this will be revealed in kindness of heart and action and singleness of purpose. Courtesy and sympathy will be revealed in our daily lives. By a daily opening of the heart to truth and righteousness as they are found in Jesus, we will be able to reveal that truth and that righteousness in our dealings with others. 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 5

The Spirit of Christ is grieved when any of His followers give evidence of possessing a harsh, unfair, or exacting spirit. As laborers together with God, each should regard the other as part of God’s great firm. He desires that they shall counsel together. There is to be no drawing apart, for the spirit of independence dishonors the truth we possess. One special evidence that the love of Christ is abiding in His church is the unity and harmony which exist among its members. This is the brightest witness to the possession of true religion; for it will convert and transform the natural man and fashion him after the divine similitude. 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 6

The converting power of Christ is to have a telling influence in all our institutions, and this power is the agency that will overcome our individual defects of character and make us laborers together with God. By the truth held in its purity, souls will be reached who could not otherwise be influenced to obey. The Holy Spirit is to be our counselor and guide in every branch of the work. The will of God made manifest in the life reveals the power of the Word to overcome every natural trait of character and to conduct the believer “from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” [2 Corinthians 3:18.] 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 7

I have a deep interest in you, my brother. I want you to receive the grace of our precious Saviour, that you may be sanctified—soul, body, and spirit—through the belief of the truth. You are not required to set a standard of character for yourself, but to accept that standard, which if copied will lead you in the lowly steps of Jesus. 23LtMs, Lt 270, 1908, par. 8