Manuscript Releases, vol. 13 [Nos. 1000-1080]

MR No. 1063—Eat and Drink to the Glory of God

Christ declared, “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” [Matthew 24:37-39]. 13MR 339.1

This is the message of warning we are to give to our world. In this work we should employ all our energies. The sins which existed in Noah's day exist now, and God calls upon His ministers to carry forward a work of decided reform. He is seeking to lead His people to a higher plane of action. Let the church arise and shine. Let every family practice self-denial, doing all they can to improve their own condition. Those who are truly on the Lord's side will be self-denying and self-sacrificing. They will eat and drink to the glory of God, refusing to corrupt soul and body by intemperance. Then the condition of the church will testify that her light has not been removed. But if church members do not act the part God has assigned them, the movement of health reform will go on without them, and it will be seen that God has removed their candlestick out of its place. Those who refuse to receive and practice the light will be left in the background. 13MR 339.2

Let not this matter be treated indifferently. Those who explain the truth to others are themselves to be examples of the work that God requires to be done in the individual character. They are to be a living exposition of the word, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” [James 1:27]. 13MR 340.1

In this time of moral declension God calls upon His people to show a marked distinction between their habits and practices and the habits and practices of the world. Let not those who claim to be Christians, who are professedly walking in the way of God's commandments, take the side of idolaters by indulging self. The advancement of the principles of health reform and medical missionary work is to engage the energies of God's people. Those who are to be a sign to the world are to learn their lessons from the greatest Teacher the world has ever known. In their work they are ever to follow Christ's example.—Manuscript 78, 1900, pp. 12, 13. 13MR 340.2

Ellen G. White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

June 7, 1984.