Living In The Light

April 22, Reflecting God’s Love

“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . .
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
—Joshua 24:15 LL 121.1

If the Word of God is obeyed, the home will be the center of the highest kind of missionary work, but those who are at disagreement in the home life do not practice the words of the Lord and will never be fit to enter the heavenly mansions unless they are transformed by the grace of Christ. If the Lord should permit them to enter heaven, they would not be happy, for they would find something that would not please them. Someone would be in heaven whom they had never loved on earth, and they would want him banished from the place of bliss. If we are sanctified, refined, and made meet for the society of the saints in light, we shall be fitted for heaven. If we manifest the character of Christ here, we shall have a heaven to go to heaven in, and shall be cheered by glimpses of our eternal home which Jesus has gone to prepare. LL 121.2

We are to strive earnestly through the grace given us to represent Christ and not make prominent our own crude ideas, our own objectionable traits of character. We are ever to keep our will in subjection to God’s will and be willing to be disciplined by His Holy Spirit, that we may shed forth His beams of light. We should manifest His love in our home, and when we are away from home, we shall carry the same pleasant disposition and manifest forbearance, meekness, courage, and love in the Lord. All murmuring and complaining will be put aside as unworthy of the children of the heavenly King, unworthy of the members of the royal family, who are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. The heavenly mansions are prepared for those who are pure, who love and obey the Word of God, and there we shall meet to part no more. LL 121.3

I have been shown that home religion is the great need in every family. The home circle should be the center of the purest and most elevated affections.—Letter 18b, 1891. LL 121.4

Further Reflection: Ellen White emphasizes the need of “home religion” in every family. How would you define “home religion,” and how can it be cultivated in families today? How might broken families develop it in their homes? LL 121.5