Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 19 (1904)

Lt 395, 1904

Kress, Brother and Sister

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

February 9, 1904

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother and Sister Kress,—

I have received your letters thankfully and read them interestedly, and I think I shall ask you not to suppose I am in any way forgetful of you because I do not write to you, but it is because things come in that demand immediate attention and therefore I face an impossibility. Reluctantly I shall be able to write only a short letter, but the one to Brother and Sister Irwin is free for you to read, and Brother Burden. There are cases [that] come to me that will bear no delay. I must write, and they that I know are in peril I must not neglect. 19LtMs, Lt 395, 1904, par. 1

We are very glad to hear all the good news, that of souls coming to the knowledge of the truth. One soul saved is above the riches of the whole world. Oh, if we could only appreciate the value of the sacrifice that Christ has made in our behalf, we could not be despondent, we could not hang down our heads and complain of the hardness and troubles we meet in the way. I am glad you are not inclined to dwell on the dark side, for it never pays. [If] we will look up we will be sure to be obedient to all God’s requirements, and we will rejoice because the joy of Christ is in our souls and His joy is a fulness that will find expression. It never helps any soul to talk unbelief and darkness. St. Paul was one who appreciated Christ. He was the property of Christ in the fullest sense. He was Christ’s by consecration, Christ’s by service. He bore the signet mark of voluntary surrender of soul, body, and spirit unto Christ. 19LtMs, Lt 395, 1904, par. 2

He was always Christ’s humble, happy, devoted, steadfast servant. Once he says he was a “blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious.” 1 Timothy 1:13. The life that he once lived in the flesh was against Christ wholly and utterly, but oh, he did all these hateful things because he did not know Christ. How changed a man he was when he was arrested on his route of persecution of Christ’s followers. Now the whole man was converted, born again. Now his whole life was for Christ. It was through Christ that he saw himself so great a sinner. What a change came over his whole religious experience! 19LtMs, Lt 395, 1904, par. 3

Speaking of his own experience and his associates, he says, “None of us liveth to himself, no man (dieth) to himself. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live or die we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:7, 8. 19LtMs, Lt 395, 1904, par. 4

This is the comfort I take in my experience. If this were the life of Paul, not a life centered in himself, but a life brought fully into a blessed captivity to Christ, then we may have a similar experience. Living a life devoted to Christ for the good he can do in ministering to others through his influence, many were encouraged, many were learning to serve the Lord Christ. In the same way that Christ did enable Paul to do as His servant, He will enable every soul to do who will accept of Christ as his personal Saviour. We certainly should have our life wholly as devoted as was the life of Paul. And it is Christ, through receiving Him, that makes it possible for Christ to give [us] power to become sons of God and daughters of God. God would have us live a consistent, uniform, beautiful Christian life. Then there is the promise that the power is bestowed upon us, that we are indeed partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Our obligations are to be felt as equal with the obligations of Paul. 19LtMs, Lt 395, 1904, par. 5

May He bless you as a family and make hearts cheerful always in Christ Jesus. 19LtMs, Lt 395, 1904, par. 6