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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 5, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 46.

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EDITORIALS

By F. M. W.

The Real Issue

MANY and varied are the influences which stand opposed to the Christian. Foes without and within dispute his advancement at every step. In the world evil combinations are forming against the truth of God; wicked men are combining to thwart God’s purposes and to oppress his people. We are not fighting against flesh and blood alone, but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high places. We view with concern the gathering of the forces of evil and the powers of darkness, but we must realize that, after all, the real issues in the Christian warfare come in our own hearts. Here must be witnessed the greatest triumphs of the grace of Christ; here we must meet sin in hand-to-hand conflict. We must neither give nor receive quarter; it must be a fight to the death, a conflict which results either in the destruction of the old man of sin with his evil tendencies and lustful desires, or in our eternal destruction.
And many there are today in the service of the Master who, while they are attempting to do worthy service for their King, are endeavoring to evade the real issue. Some there are, possibly acting the part of gospel messengers, who have failed to realize the power of the gospel in their own lives. They are preaching to others, but they themselves, unless transformed by the power of God, will be castaways in the end. The apostle Paul recognized this danger in his own experience, and so he said: “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
Sad indeed will it be for us, after having turned away from the opportunities which this world affords us in the way of material advancement, and casting in our lot with an unpopular cause, giving our time and means to promulgate what we believe to be the truth of God for this day and generation, if that truth should not sanctify our own hearts and lives, and we fail of attaining that which we have been the means, under God, of helping others to gain.
The assent of the mind to the plan of salvation is not sufficient. The intellect may be convinced, but it is necessary that the heart be moved and the life be changed; that the motives and purposes and wellsprings of the whole being be transformed. Are we who read these words evading the real issues in our Christian experience? Are we fondly congratulating ourselves that we are working out our salvation by refraining from labor on the seventh day, by the payment of tithes, by the making of mission offerings, by the distribution of literature? We may do all of these things and fail of salvation at last, because the salvation that Christ gives is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Religion is not a mental assent to truth; it is not a belief in a historical Christ; it does not consist in a round of ceremonies and ritualism. It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Religion has to do with the personal and individual relationship existing between every soul and his Redeemer. The question for each individual to ask himself is, Have this truth and this message accomplished for me God’s purpose and design? Have I received the truth in the love of it, making such application of it to my own needs that through the Spirit of God I have become transformed into the image of the Master? Am I at heart what I seek to make my neighbors believe I am by my outward actions? Have I a conscience void of offense before God and man? Is Christ giving me the victory over every besetment? Am I as patient and kind and loving in the privacy of my own home as I appear to be in public? Do I know that God for Christ’s sake has forgiven my sins, and that I am accepted in the Beloved? Around the experiences of everyday life revolve the real issues in Christian warfare.
If we have been tempted in the past to avoid the real issue in our Christian experience, may God help us to enter the conflict today, and to give sin no quarter till it is eliminated from our lives. This experience will add power to our testimony. Then we can tell men that there is victory for them, because we have found the victory ourselves. We shall be able to say, Come and see what God has done for us; come and taste of that which we have found so precious. In that experience we shall render to God his own in tithes and offerings, not for the purchase of our salvation or from a sense of duty, but because we love to give to him who has given so much for us. Then will the Sabbath of the Lord be not alone a memorial of the creation of this material universe, but a sign of that same creative power working for our sanctification. Christ will put a new joy into our hearts and a new song into our mouths. Then Christian service, instead of being full of doubt and uncertainty, will be one of assurance and power in the Holy Spirit. Let us recognize and meet the real issues in our lives.
F. M. W.