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Representatives of the Savior
Maranatha
Page 112


Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against
you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day
of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12


God expects those who bear the name of Christ to represent Him. . . . They
are to be a sanctified, purified, holy people, communicating light to all
with whom they come in contact. . . . The followers of Christ are to be
separate from the world in principles and interests, but they are not to
isolate themselves from the world. The Savior mingled constantly with men,
not to encourage them in anything that was not in accordance with God's
will, but to uplift and ennoble them. "I sanctify myself," He declared,
"that they also might be sanctified." John 17:19. So the Christian is to
abide among men, that the savor of divine love may be as salt to preserve
the world from corruption. . . .

The power of a higher, purer, nobler life is our great need. The world is
watching to see what fruit is borne by professed Christians. . . .
Impressions favorable or unfavorable to Bible religion are constantly being
made on the minds of all with whom we have to do.

And God and the angels are watching. God desires His people to show by their
lives the advantage of Christianity over worldliness, to show that they are
working on a high, holy plane. He longs to see them showing that the truth
they have received has made them children of the heavenly King. He longs to
make them channels through which He can pour His boundless love and mercy.

Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in
His church. When the character of the Savior shall be perfectly reproduced
in His people, then He will come to claim His own. It is the privilege of
every Christian, not only to look for, but to hasten, the coming of our
Lord. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly
the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel! Quickly the last
great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come.

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A Character the World will Recognize
Maranatha
Page 113


That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in
the world. Phil. 2:15


It is God's purpose to manifest through His people the principles of His
kingdom. That in life and character they may reveal these principles, He
desires to separate them from the customs, habits, and practices of the
world. . . . By beholding the goodness, the mercy, the justice, and the love
of God revealed in His church, the world is to have a representation of His
character. And when the law of God is thus exemplified in the life, even the
world will recognize the superiority of those who love and fear and serve
God above every other people in the world.

Seventh-day Adventists, above all people, should be patterns of piety, holy
in heart and in conversation. To them have been entrusted the most solemn
truths ever committed to mortals. Every endowment of grace and power and
efficiency has been liberally provided. They look for the near return of
Christ in the clouds of heaven. For them to give to the world the impression
that their faith is not a dominating power in their lives is greatly to
dishonor God.

Because of the increasing power of Satan's temptations, the times in which
we live are full of peril for the children of God, and we need to learn
constantly of the Great Teacher, that we may take every step in surety and
righteousness. Wonderful scenes are opening before us; and at this time a
living testimony is to be borne in the lives of God's professed people, so
that the world may see that in this age, when evil reigns on every side,
there is yet a people who are laying aside their will and are seeking to do
God's will--a people in whose hearts and lives God's law is written. . . .

Their thoughts are to be pure, their words noble and uplifting. The religion
of Christ is to be interwoven with all that they do and say. They are to be
a sanctified, purified, holy people, communicating light to all with whom
they come in contact. It is His purpose that by exemplifying the truth in
their lives, they shall be a praise in the earth. The grace of Christ is
sufficient to bring this about.

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