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Our Words and Thoughts

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 10, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 41.

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Our Words and Thoughts

By GEO. O. STATES

GEO. O. STATES
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
WE have a message to the world, and God wants every Seventh-day Adventist so to live that every person with whom he has to do may read in his life the gospel. If the people will not attend our meetings, do not read the Bible for themselves, and will not read these truths, how can we give them the message? “Ye are our epistles.” The people of the world will read the lives of those who profess the truth, and what they read therein will determine their acceptance or rejection of the truth. Do we realize that our neighbors will be saved or lost, and that our right living may result in their salvation? This being true, how important that we “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Those who expect to be translated without seeing death should dwell upon the good qualities of those with whom they associate. How natural it is for us to see and dwell upon the errors and failings of others! but the Lord has given us themes upon which to dwell: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Here are healthful themes for the mind to dwell upon, and by so doing peace will be brought to the soul. There is often great temptation to talk of things which do not profit the speaker or the hearer, but which bring evil and barrenness to both. Our probationary time is too brief to be spent in dwelling upon the shortcomings of others. We have a work before us which requires the closest diligence and the strictest watchfulness, united with unceasing prayer. Thus shall we be able to overcome the defects in our characters, and to copy the divine Pattern. We should all study to imitate the life of Christ. Then we shall have a sanctifying influence upon those with whom we associate. It is a wonderful thing to be a Christian, truly Christlike,—peaceable, pure, and undefiled.
Cedaredge, Colo.