HOW DO WE FACE THE NEW YEAR?
By Ellen G. White
What Are the Resolutions We Have Formed?—Are We Giving Christ the Treasure He Most Desires? By the late MRS. E. G. WHITE Among the valuable manuscripts left by the late Mrs. E. G. White was the following article, written for a New Year’s occasion. The matter is so appropriate at this time that we pass it on to our readers, knowing they will enjoy it, and also find it helpful. The excitement of the holidays is now in the past, and what has been the record? As we have professed to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, have our hearts been filled with gratitude for the infinite gift of God’s dear Son? Has Jesus been revered and honored? Has He been made prominent in our thoughts and plans, and have our gifts flowed into His treasury? Is it not true that in many instances, Christ and His claims have been forgotten in the feasting and the merriment, and that the honor due to Him has been given to man? Have not the thoughts, the means, and the labor been diverted from the proper object, and turned into a channel to please and exalt the human rather than the divine? The admonition of the apostle comes down the line to every one of us, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” God forbid that at this important hour, we should be so engrossed with other matters as to give no time to serious, candid, critical self-examination. Let things of minor consequence be put in the background, and let us now bring to the front the things that concern our eternal interests. What advancement have we made in Christian experience? Our work—have we so done it that it will bear the inspection of the Master, who has given to every man his work, according to his ability? Inquire into the character of your thoughts, tempers, purposes, words, and works during the past year. Compare the records of your religious life with the Bible standard, and pass judgment upon yourselves. Have the fruits of righteousness testified that you are in the faith, or have the fruits that you have borne witnessed against you? Every provision has been made that we may attain a height of stature in Christ Jesus that will meet the divine standard. God is not pleased with His representatives if they are content to be dwarfs when they might grow to the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus. He wants you to have height and breadth in Christian experience. He wants you to have great thoughts, noble aspirations, clear perceptions of truth, and lofty purposes of action. Each day as it passes should find you better prepared to meet new trials and bear new responsibilities. Every passing year should increase the soul’s yearning for purity and perfection of Christian character. Although in one sense the first day of a new year is no more to God than any other day, yet He often puts into the hearts of His children at that time a desire to begin the new year with new resolves—perhaps with plans to carry out some worthy enterprise—and with purposes to depart from the wrongs of the old year, and to live the new year with new determinations. Shall we not enter the new year with our hearts cleansed from selfishness and pride, and with a determination to put away every sinful indulgence? MAY CHRIST HAVE THIS GIFT?
Many have been seeking some rare gift to bestow upon their friends. Will you not bring to Jesus the gift that He prizes above all others—the gift of your heart? If we bring to God the first gift, the value of every other is enhanced; for love makes it not merely a passing compliment, but a precious offering. From the softened heart in which the peace of Christ abides, will flow forth sincere wishes, kindly words and deeds, and worthy, appropriate offerings. Let us withhold nothing from Him who gave His precious life for us. Many of us made great mistakes the last year. How many have cherished heartburnings and bitterness! How many have thought and spoken unkindly of those who, like themselves, profess to be followers of Jesus! We may think that we have had excuse for this; but is there any provocation of sufficient weight to excuse us in harboring unkindness and malice in our hearts? Said Jesus, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” The church militant is not the church triumphant, and earth is not heaven. The church is composed of erring, imperfect men and women, who are learners in the school of Christ, to be trained, educated, disciplined, for this life, and for the future immortal life. No one of us can in our own strength represent the character of Christ; but if Jesus lives in the heart, the Spirit dwelling in Him will be revealed in us; all our lack will be supplied. Who will seek, at the beginning of this new year, to obtain a new and genuine experience in the things of God? Make your wrongs right as far as possible. Confess your errors and sins to one another. Let all bitterness and wrath and malice be put away; let patience and long-suffering and love become a part of your very being. Then whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report will mature in your experience. As we stand on the threshold of a new year, there is need of an impartial examination of our own hearts, to dispel the pleasing illusions of self-love. Our condition is helpless and hopeless unless infinite mercy is granted us daily. Let us begin the new year with an entire renunciation of self; let us pray for clear discernment, that we may understand our Saviour’s claims upon us, and that we may always and everywhere be witnesses for Christ. “Take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”— “Strong in the strength which God supplies Through His eternal Son.”