Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 13 (1898)

Lt 83, 1898

White, W. C.

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

August 17, 1898

Portions of this letter are published in TMK 88; UL 243; VSS 15.

Dear Son Willie:

Last evening, I received your letter, so full of information. You are devising many things of great importance, and if the Lord plans with you, they will prove a grand success. And when the workers unite in asking wisdom of God, and give themselves up to be led and guided by Him, I have faith to believe that He will not disappoint His servants who need His guidance, who desire that the Holy Spirit shall work them, bringing under His control their minds and their will. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 1

We need to sense deeply that all influence is a precious talent, to be used for God. The entire life is God’s, and it is to be treated as such. Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. The life of Christ in our life is the very root of a consecrated life. We need to appreciate every capability we possess, because it is lent capital to be improved to God’s glory. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 2

I have seen many things which you have been considering in your conference, and there has been presented before me the constant temptation there is for human beings to consider that any influence they have gained the result of something valuable in themselves. The Lord does not work with these, for He will not give to any human being the glory that belongs to His own name. God would have everyone under His supervision, and recognize that to God belongs all glory of their success. If they do this, they will increase in knowledge and in wisdom. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 3

From the light given me by God, His servants should not lift themselves up in their own judgment and efficiency, for the Lord will permit them to move in their own wisdom, and humble them by defeat. If the human worker will walk in all humility of mind, looking to God, trusting in Him, working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, the Lord will co-operate with him. It is God that works in us to do His will for His own name’s glory. He will give His wisdom, His divine power, to everyone who is doing His service. He makes the humble, trustful servant His representative—the one who will not lift himself up, and think of himself more highly than he ought to think. The life of such an one will be dedicated to God as a living sacrifice, and that life He will accept and use and sustain. He longs to make men wise with His own wisdom, that that wisdom may be exercised in His own behalf. He manifests Himself through the consecrated humble worker. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 4

Our life is not our own. It is Christ’s life. All is His, and we are to spend our powers in doing the will of God. Watch and pray, spend and be spent, in doing His will from the heart. Carry every entrusted capability as a sacred treasure, to be used in imparting to others the knowledge and grace received. In this you will answer the purpose for which God gave them. The Lord requires us to sink self in Jesus Christ and let the glory be all of God. Our life is the Lord’s, and is invested with a responsibility that we do not fully comprehend. The threads of self have become woven into the fabric, and this has dishonored God. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 5

Nehemiah, after gaining so great an influence over the monarch in whose court he lived, and over his people in Jerusalem, instead of ascribing praise to his own excellent traits of character, his remarkable aptness and energy, stated the matter just as it was. He declared that his success was due to the good hand of God that was upon him. He cherished the truth that God was his safeguard in every position of influence. For every trait of character by which he obtained favor, he praised the working power of God through His unseen agencies. And God gave him wisdom because he did not exalt himself. The Lord taught him how to use the gifts entrusted to him to the very best advantage, and under the supervision of God these talents gained other talents. This human agent could be worked by divine agencies. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 6

Every jot of influence is to be appreciated as the gift of God. The eye of the mind is to be single to the glory of God. Then the sense of responsibility will increase. Our talent will be put out to the exchangers to increase and double. There are hundreds of men and women who, if they had a proper appreciation of the heavenly trust, would go diligently and earnestly to work to use what they have. They would pray, and believe in God as the Source of all power and might, and would work as God’s employed servants. And their energy of character would not be wasted as far as spiritual results were concerned. They would consecrate themselves to God, soul, body, and spirit, and do His service by imparting to others the light and truth received. They will learn how to pray intelligently, how to make the best use of their voice, how to communicate truth in the best way, that their voice, which is a precious gift, may be employed to the glory of God. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 7

Every improvement possible should be made in manner, in speech, in clearness of pronunciation. God’s servant should speak as though before the heavenly universe. They are to represent the perfection of God’s entrusted gifts. They are to improve every talent, that they may obtain an influence as speaking and acting for God. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 8

They are to be God’s representatives, taking the work of God and clothing it with all the attractions possible. God does not design that the human channel shall be uncouth. Man is not to belittle or degrade the heavenly current that passes through him to others. All may exert a much more extensive influence if they will educate themselves. You who think that you have few talents, appreciate and use and perfect that which you have, that the Lord’s work may not be cheapened or made inferior. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 9

The truth always sanctifies the receiver. With holy determination, standing under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ, encourage all to use simple, pure, elevated language. Speech, pronunciation, and voice—cultivate these talents, not under any great elocutionist of the world, but under the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The reception of the truth will never make men or women coarse and rough and cheap in the use of any gift that God has entrusted to them. All these blessings are given for the development of Christian character. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 10

We are now in a school preparatory for the highest grade, even the heavenly courts of the Lord. No cheapness of character will find entrance there. Truth, precious, pure, and elevating, is to be cherished, that it may sanctify us unto God. We are in no case to belittle the power of truth upon human minds and characters. If it is received into the heart, the truth will have a transforming power upon the character and life of the receiver. Through it we shall become representatives of Jesus Christ to the world. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 11

O, if we had only lived the truth day by day, how pure, how refined and elevated, would be the influence of every soul who claims to be a child of God. We must be Christlike in the spirit as well as in the form of doctrine. It is the influence of sacred truth upon hearts and lives that is the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe, and it is the power of God to a world that does not believe. Its testimony borne to the world either saves or condemns. 13LtMs, Lt 83, 1898, par. 12