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Our Mission

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 27.

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Our Mission

By Francis M. Wilcox

The mission of the ambassadors of Christ is not merely to warn men of the results of disobedience, but above all it is so to win them by love that they will turn from their evil ways and accept the salvation which there is in Christ Jesus. As Christian workers, we should bear this in mind. God has entrusted us with a great message, a message which carries with it a solemn warning. That message is positive and constructive in that it proclaims the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and establishes a people and movement based upon the truths of the Word of God. It is negative and destructive in that it warns men of the dangers of rejecting God's grace, unmasks the specious deceptions of error, and shows the terrible results of rejecting God and his truth, and of following in the paths of sin.
But while we should earnestly "contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints," let us seek to do this not egotistically, self-righteously, nor vaingloriously, but in love and humility. It is not enough merely that we should warn men. Our effort should be to save men,—save them by the warning which we give in love and fear. Of himself Christ says: "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." And the apostle Paul adds, "Knowing . . . the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." Understanding from the Scriptures of truth the terrible wages of sin and the reward of unrighteousness, we should labor the more carefully that the words we speak, the spirit we manifest, our tone of voice, our expression of face, may prove, under God, a savor of life unto our fellows, and not a savor of death.
The power of the truth is shown not in its condemnation of error, but in that it wins men from error's ways. The power of God's grace and the effectiveness of the scheme of salvation through the eternal ages will not consist in that, through the rejection of his grace, sin and sinners have been destroyed out of the universe of God, but in that men and women have been rescued from the power of Satan, and throughout endless eternity stand as the trophies of God's grace. Let us make it our mission among men to win them for Jesus. F. M. W.