Untitled article by Frederick M. Rossiter, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 23, 1913

The Gospel of Health—No. 4

By Frederick M. Rossiter, M. D.

To present our bodies as a living sacrifice, or, in other words, to deny ourselves of every harmful thing so that God can make us acceptable, is a necessary step to being transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we “may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

We must have clear minds and a spiritual susceptibility in order to do this. The time is coming when it will be said, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Ps. 50: 5. Note what it says, “have made.” Now is the time to make this living sacrifice; and we do not make it once for all time, but, as in old times, it is a daily sacrifice, offered morning and evening, or, as Paul said, “I die daily.” We are called upon to make an absolute surrender of all that we are; for, after all, we are not our own, for we are bought with a price; therefore in making this sacrifice we are only returning to God what already belongs to him.

The appetites, the senses, the physical desires, have such a tremendous hold upon us, have such control on what we call our happiness, that the Scriptures place the matter in the proper light when we are beseeched to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. The enemy of our souls presents the pleasures of the senses to each one in such an attractive light that to surrender all unconditionally to God, to practise self-denial in every unlawful pleasure, is for a time like parting company with an intimate friend. It costs an effort; but when freedom comes, there is a deep sense of the goodness of God for the blessedness of it all.

We need a constant trust in the mighty keeping power of God to enable us not only to gain a victory, but to keep on gaining victories. But the promise is, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Personal victories are concerned with today, not with tomorrow. This is a very precious promise to one who is breaking away from some appetite that has bound him for years; for that desire will most certainly try to assert itself for a long time, and then when he feels strong and is inclined to be less watchful, the enemy comes in like a flood at a most unexpected time, and the temptation arouses a raging conflict. If he has been relying upon the promises of God, the victory can be his; he can be more than conqueror.

Some time ago a man said to me, “I would give a hundred dollars for a cigar tonight.”

For a month or six weeks he had been seeking freedom from it, but the craving would become so strong that he would go back to it worse than ever. In this instance, I saw him smoking again in a few days. So, many of us give up various habits that are harmful to the health and the spiritual growth; we give them up and still cling to them, just as this man clung to his tobacco after discontinuing its use,—he was longing for it all the time. This is the reason we lose so many victories. After leaving Egypt we still long for the fleshpots, for the leeks and onions. This shows that we have not actually and determinedly left all behind; a bridge is left so we can return if we can find some excuse. Away back in our souls somewhere there is still a mental reservation, there is not an unconditional surrender; that titbit of desire is rolled up under our tongue that we may taste it at pleasure. So it goes on. We gain victories, and then we suffer defeats. We suffer the defeats to take place, and then we suffer because of the defeats; we suffer mentally and physically. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Gal. 5: 17. How many are having this experience!

The gospel of health is not the message, but it is a part of the message, and a very important part, too, one that sustains a very close relation to the successful consummation of the message so far as we as individuals are concerned. It is the right arm. The right arm is the one that most persons use to do things with. So health principles comprise the part of the message that we can look to for doing things, for making a way as an entering wedge. And last, but not least, because of the health features of this message a stream of gold and silver is flowing into the treasury of the General Conference, supplying thousands of dollars for foreign missions that otherwise might be spent in satisfying perverted appetites. So, presenting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice not only brings great personal blessings to each one, but it is building sanitariums, and colleges, and schools, and printing-houses, and is sending missionaries to all parts of the world. Now if this right arm can have the proper exercise, we shall see much more accomplished; for it is the right arm that does things. Do not tie the right arm to your side. Let us each make a personal application of Paul’s admonition: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead.” Let us be a continual living sacrifice, and not dead in sin.