The Love of the Truth by Francis McLellan Wilcox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 25, 1914

The Love of the Truth

By Francis McLellan Wilcox

THE apostle Paul speaks of some who "receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved." The truth of God can sanctify us only as the love of that truth enters into our hearts and takes possession of our lives. Some there are today, as there ever have been, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; they claim the Word of God as the man of their counsel; their names are enrolled on the church books; they are found in the assemblies of God's people; and they pass among their fellows as disciples of the Master. But their hearts are far from God. Perhaps no human eye can discern the difference between them and their more devoted fellows, but sometime there will come the hour of testing. They will be brought into places where the real principles which actuate their lives will be demonstrated. In that time no formal profession will save them. It is only as they have received the love of the truth in their hearts, only as it has entered into their lives and taken possession of them, that they will be able to maintain their integrity.

It is a pertinent question as to how we are holding the truth of God today. Is the question of the Lord's coming a doctrine of mental assent, or one of the heart and life? Do we desire his coming because we love him, because we look forward with joyful anticipation to personal association with him? Do we desire his coming as the coming of a dear friend, the dearest friend of our life? Are we keeping the Sabbath of the Lord today merely because our judgment has been convinced that this is right, or through fear of divine judgment if we do not observe it, or are we rejoicing weekly not alone in the physical rest which it brings to us, but in the blessed spiritual rest which it holds for each one of God's children?

There are Sunday keepers, and also Saturday keepers, in the world today; but Saturday keeping is not Sabbath keeping. Refraining from labor on the seventh day of the week is not keeping the Sabbath in God's plan. God designed that Sabbath keeping should bring to his people cessation from physical labor, but above and beyond that he designed that it should bring to their hearts and souls a great spiritual refreshing.

The Sabbath is a memorial of creation. It is a sign also of sanctification, because the same power which was manifested in bringing the world into existence is exercised in the transformation which the grace of God works in the lives of the believers.

So, while the Sabbath stands as a memorial of the creation of this material world, and of the race of men, it stands also as a sign of the creation of the new man in Christ Jesus. It is for us to regard it as a memorial, and it is for us to enter into the enjoyment of that spiritual rest for which it stands. It is this to receive the Sabbath truth, and the love of it. It is this experience which is going to hold us firm and steady in the storm and stress and strife of coming days. Those who fail to gain this experience will fail in the sanctification which this experience represents. They will become the prey of Satan's delusions, and will take their stand in the final conflict on the side of the great adversary. Let us seek today to gain that experience in God which will hold us against the storm of tomorrow. We live one day at a time. We walk one step at a time. Sufficient unto each day's need will be the strength therefor.

F. M. W.