Living In The Light

September 5, God Chose Us

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
—2 Corinthians 4:7 LL 263.1

God could have proclaimed His truth through sinless angels, but this is not His plan. He chooses human beings, men and women compassed with infirmity, as instruments in the working out of His designs. The priceless treasure is placed in earthen vessels. Through human beings His blessings are to be conveyed to the world. Through them His glory is to shine forth into the darkness of sin. In loving ministry they are to meet the sinful and the needy, and lead them to the cross. And in all their work they are to ascribe glory, honor, and praise to Him who is above all and overall. LL 263.2

Referring to his own experience, Paul showed that in choosing the service of Christ he had not been prompted by selfish motives, for his pathway had been beset by trial and temptation. “We are troubled on every side,” he wrote, “yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also ofJesus might be made manifest in our body.” LL 263.3

Paul reminded his brethren that as Christ’s messengers he and his fellow laborers were continually in peril. The hardships they endured were wearing away their strength. “We which live,” he wrote, “are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also ofJesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” Suffering physically through privation and toil, these ministers of Christ were conforming to His death. But that which was working death in them was bringing spiritual life and health to the Corinthians, who by a belief in the truth were being made partakers of life eternal. In view of this, the followers ofJesus were to be careful not to increase, by neglect and disaffection, the burdens and trials of the laborers. LL 263.4

“We having the same spirit of faith,” Paul continued, “according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.”— The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 330, 331. LL 263.5

Further Reflection: Does your personal pain ever prevent you from serving the lost? LL 263.6