The Way and the Requirement by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 8, 1915

The Way and the Requirement

By C. M. S.

The continued existence of any intelligent being has been made dependent upon the choice of righteousness. That choice makes possible the bestowal of the gift of everlasting life. Freedom from sin is God’s greatest blessing. The opposite must bring the fruitage of sin—everlasting death. If there is guile in the spirit, the tongue will make it known, and help to root it deeper and stimulate its growth. Therefore we have this divine admonition: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23. In harmony with this is the following: “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. . . . The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” Ps. 34:13-16.

Similarly does Inspiration exhort us through Peter: “Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation.” 1 Peter 2:1. And, further, we have the example of our Saviour, whose steps we are commanded to follow: “Hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” 1 Peter 2:21, 22.

Thus by both precept and example we are shown the way and the requirement. Every human heart is a battle field whereon truth and error, loyalty and disloyalty, sincerity and guile, righteousness and iniquity, life and death, meet in mortal struggle. In every such struggle Heaven is intensely interested. The eyes of the Lord “run to and fro in the earth.” For what purpose if not to observe the progress of that contest in individual hearts?

Let us not forget the prerequisites of being numbered among God’s jewels. They are the guileless mouth, the guileless heart, the choice of righteousness, the appropriation of Christ’s sacrifice and work in our behalf. The fountain must be pure if the stream is to be pure. The choice of righteousness must spring from a heart that loves righteousness. The guileless mouth can be possessed only by him who has a guileless heart. The life of the accepted child of God will be a continued testimony to the goodness and the righteousness of God, a wellspring of hope, and a savor of life unto life.

C. M. S.