Profession and Possession by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 31, 1911

Profession and Possession

By F. M. W.

PROFESSION does not necessarily imply possession. There are many make-believes in the world. On every side we find imitations and imitators. This is true even in the great church of Christ; there are many who profess to be Christians who are not such in reality. Their names are on the church-books, they are enrolled in the record of membership as members of the church of Christ; but by their lives and daily experience they disprove the genuineness of their profession.

The apostle Paul thus exhorts the believers in Corinth: “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” Formally they had received the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and professed allegiance to it. The burden of their teacher’s heart now is that this grace shall work out in their lives its great purpose; that the gospel shall not be held in mere form, but that its power shall be felt and experienced.

The effect this grace was designed to have upon the believers is expressed by this same apostle in his epistle to Titus:—

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has 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; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

This grace, or gospel, of God teaches both a negative and a positive truth,—the truth of self-denial, of putting off, of laying aside, of surrender, and then in the place of the things thus given up, the putting on of soberness, righteousness, and godliness.

The gospel of Christ can accomplish this for the believer only as that gospel is received into the inmost heart, and is welcomed in the life as the most precious portion. Only as we come to hate sin and love righteousness shall we reap the fruits of righteousness in our lives. The gospel must not only be held in form, but it must also be received in love.

The second epistle to the church at Thessalonica brings to view a class of persons who “received not a love of the truth, that they might be saved.” “For this cause,” says the apostle, “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” It is the privilege of the believer to have his life so transformed by the grace of God that he shall find pleasure in righteousness. The service of God becomes a joy in his life. That service may involve toil and trial and darkness, even persecution and death; but he goes joyfully to his labor, with the love of the Master as the inspiration of all his service.

In the trying times before the church of God in these last days, we need this close connection with Heaven. No theory of the truth will save us, no formal profession will enable us to stand. We must gain an experience in God which will bring us into the secret of his presence, into that fulness and joy of communion which will hold us in the hour of darkness.

Job says: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” Job’s experience brought him nearer to God. He had known God largely in a theoretical sense, he had heard of him and known about him; but now he had so entered into communion with him that he saw him. He laid hold upon him. The divine life had entered into him. The result of that revelation to the patriarch was to lead him to abhor himself and repent in dust and ashes.

This revelation of God to us will lead us to recognize, as never before, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The nearer we come to God, the less worthiness we shall see in ourselves, the less merit in our own efforts, and the more we shall be entranced with the beauty of righteousness, and the more its power will take hold upon our experience. This revelation of God in the beauty of his character will come to us as the result of full surrender of self; by our removing from the door of our hearts all rubbish of sin which would prevent his entrance; by our opening the door wide, and bidding him to come in and take full and complete possession; by casting down every idol, and enthroning him as the supreme object of our affections.

For this complete consecration, for this infilling of power, for this fulness and sweetness of communion, for this precious possession as the true complement of profession, we need to pray. Earnest, prevailing prayer, which pleads God’s promises and knows no denial; simple, trusting faith, which takes the Word and appropriates its power to daily and practical needs,—this experience is for every disciple. This is the heritage of God’s sons and daughters. Let us live up to this high privilege in Christ Jesus.

F. M. W.