A General Movement Needed
By Ellen G. White
THE world is in need of a stirring work for souls. “A general movement is needed, and this must begin with individual movements. In every church let every member of every family make determined efforts to deny self, and to help forward the work. . . . Let us do our best at this time to render to God our offering.” In my study of Leviticus 7, this morning, I noticed that every man had a work to do that nobody could do for him. “His own hands shall bring the offerings of the Lord.” Read verses 29, 30. This makes plain to me the expressions from the Lord which call every one to act a part in the work with “Christ’s Object Lessons.” This work cannot be done by proxy. “God calls upon his people to do their part in placing this book before the world. In this he is testing his people . . . to see if they will work together and be of one mind in self-denial and self-sacrifice.” I often find families of our people who have not yet procured one of these books for themselves. They certainly cannot realize the need and the blessing of selling it to others. May the Lord help every one to be willing to deny self if necessary, to get one, and then to wear it out in learning its soul-saving lessons and in reading them to his friends and neighbors. Here is a way we can deny self: “Albums filled with photographs of the family and their friends are placed where they will attract the attention of visitors. . . . Is not this a species of idolatry? Should not the money thus spent have been used to bless humanity? . . . To all intents and purposes it is idolatry. He who searches the heart desires to win his people from every species of idolatry.”—Review and Herald, May 14, 1901. Let us be won, brethren and sisters, by God’s seeking love, and practice this idolatry no more. “Love will be revealed in sacrifice. . . . If we love Jesus, . . . we shall love to labor for him. The very labor will be light. For his sake we shall covet pain and toil and sacrifice.”—“Christ’s Object Lessons,” page 49. Many of us can deny self by stopping the buying of things that we do not need. Thus we may start a stream of love flowing toward souls hungering for the bread of life. Please read “Christ’s Object Lessons,” pages 191 and 418.