When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. DA 668

Two types of benevolence.

“In a mountainous region, in the south-western part of the state of New York, there are innumerable little rills, running in different direction, some, whose sources are within a mile of each other, taking opposite courses. Interspersed throughout the same region are a multitude of little lakes, opening their placid bosoms to the sun, as is rays fall obliquely upon them through the mountains, converting the little ripples which play upon their surface into the appearance of a thousand sparkling gems. The careless observer, as he gazes with rapture upon the broad surface of the lovely lake, takes no notice of the little rill that murmurs its quiet way through the forest. Yet while the beautiful lake, in apparent self-complacency, opens its fair bosom to the admiring gaze of the passing stranger, the modest rill is patiently pursuing its unwearied course along the sides of the mountains, through deep ravines, and across the verdant vale, mingling with sister rills, increasing in size, swelling into streams, till stream meets stream, and river meats river, forming, in one direction, the noble Susquehanna, in another, the majestic St. Lawrence, and, in a third, the mighty Mississippi, - pouring incessantly a flood of water into the ocean.

So, while a few splendid acts of charity may, like the quiet lake, contribute to the self-complacency of their authors, and draw upon them the admiring gaze of the multitude, it is the aggregate of the little rills that must form the great streams of benevolence, which are to flow on and fertilize the earth, and fill it with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the face of the great deep.
Young Lady’s Guide pg. 236-237

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). Even the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart is to be tested by the Word of God.
The Spirit which inspired the Scriptures, always leads to the Scriptures. {1SM 43.2}

Is what you’re living for...

....worth dying for…?

"....thou hast holden me by my right hand."

“Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” Psa 73:21-26

The price of heaven.

"Now, as never before, we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." If this is the price of heaven, shall not our education be given on these lines? Christ must be everything to us."
{SpM 56.4}

Grace

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:11-13

Grace.
We hear a lot about the grace of God; how it is extended to sinners and it is by His grace alone that we can be considered His children. This is what grace does for us, but what affected me this morning is what graces does to us.
Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness, worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly. It also directs us to look for the day of our Lord’s return: the One who sacrificed all so we could be partakers of that grace.
"Marvelous grace of our loving Lord…"