NO BOASTING | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 21, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 49.

NO BOASTING.

THE true soldier of Christ, be he ever so faithful, will never feel to boast of his attainments of character or holiness of life. As he gets nearer Jesus, he comprehends more of the infinite perfection of the Master, and sees less to be praised in himself. He may not have been guilty of conscious sin during a certain period, yet when he reviews that period side by side with the life of the great Example, how imperfect it seems. Like Daniel he feels that his comeliness is turned into corruption. Dan. 10:8. The infirmities of our fallen natures are manifested at almost every step, and the tendencies of sinful flesh and confirmed habits have, in unguarded moments, often unconsciously marred the work we were doing for the Master. God accepts the work because it is wrought in love, through grace, by a heart which is set to do the whole will of God; but he does not condone our faults. These we are to "mortify," "crucify," "keep under," "put off." The graces are to "increase," the love to "abound more and more." There will ever be growth till imperfection reaches perfection, till the babe in Christ reaches the fully-developed man. Then with Paul let the child of God say, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."