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God Not Ashamed of Us

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 2, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 40.

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God Not Ashamed of Us

By H. H. VOTAW

H. H. VOTAW
Oftentimes the skeptic feels that he has completely silenced the believer by a reference to the sins — grievous sins — of the patriarchs, the records of whose lives the Scriptures give. Every Christian worker and almost every Christian layman has been confronted by some unbeliever who marshaled the mistakes of certain Biblical characters as proof that God either does not require a high standard of living of any one or that he arbitrarily chose certain ones as his children, regardless of their sins.
Only a most cursory reading of the Word could overlook the fact that God has always rebuked sin and reproved sinners even when the latter were his chosen subjects. Only a mind blinded by prejudice, it would seem, could fail to see that the very records of mistakes that the Bible gives are evidence that God is not biased in favor of some to the detriment of others. The attitude of mind with which God seems to view the children of men is revealed in the following words: “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Heb. 11:16.
It is the man who is content with sin, willing to live in sin, that God finally rejects. It is the one who aspires to no higher things, desires no better things, who is accounted unworthy of citizenship in the kingdom of God. It is not the man who falls into sin, but the man who falls and makes no effort to rise, who is satisfied to remain in the filthy rags of unrighteousness, who brings shame and disgrace to his Maker. Though we sin through the weakness of the flesh, if we do not assent with the mind, if we do not approve with our hearts, if we seek to rise above it, if we “desire” better things, “God is not ashamed to be called” our “God.”
Simla, India.