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Our High Calling

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I Am Not My Own, February 3

Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. 1 Corinthians 7:23. OHC 40.1

How natural it is to regard ourselves as complete owners of ourselves! But the Inspired Word declares, “Ye are not your own.” “Ye are bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.... In our relation to our fellow men we are owners of our entrusted mental and physical capabilities. In our relation to God, we are borrowers, stewards of His grace. OHC 40.2

Time is to be used judiciously, earnestly, and under the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. We are to understand just what is right and what is wrong to do with property and with mental and physical capabilities. God has a positive ownership of every power He has committed to the human agent. By His own wisdom He makes the terms of man's use of every gift of God. He will bless the proper use of every power put forth for His own name's glory. The talent of speech, of memory, of property, all are to accumulate for the glory of God, to advance His kingdom. God has left us in charge of His goods in His absence. Each steward has his own special work to do in advancing God's kingdom. Not one is excused.3Letter 44, 1900. OHC 40.3

The youth must be educated to respect themselves because they are bought with a price.4Letter 117, 1898. OHC 40.4

Christ clothed His divinity with humanity and paid the ransom for man, and He desires that man shall estimate the life thus provided for him by the infinite price paid.5Manuscript 23, 1899. OHC 40.5

It is your privilege to obey the living Word of God as a truly converted and transformed soul, to perform the highest service as a free, heaven-born spirit, to give evidence that you are worthy of the sacred trust that God has given you by sending His only begotten Son to die for you. If you believe in Christ as your personal Saviour, you receive every grace, every spiritual endowment, necessary for the perfecting of the Christian character. Show that you appreciate the sacrifice made for you, and regard it as too great to allow you to make a mock of your religious profession by being molded and fashioned after the world's criterion.6Manuscript 167, 1897. OHC 40.6