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Heart Allegiance, May 14
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart.
Ephesians 6:6
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The law of Jehovah is exceedingly broad. Jesus ... plainly declared
to His disciples that this holy law of God may be violated in even the
thoughts and feelings and desires, as well as in the word and deed. The
heart that loves God supremely will not in any way be inclined to narrow
down His precepts to the very smallest possible claims, but the obedient,
loyal soul will cheerfully render full spiritual obedience when the law is
seen in its spiritual power. Then will the commandments come home to
the soul in their real force. Sin will appear exceedingly sinful.... There
is no longer self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-honor. Self-security is
gone. Deep conviction of sin and self-loathing is the result, and the soul
in its desperate sense of peril lays hold on the blood of the Lamb of God
as his only remedy....
Many are deceiving their own souls today. They restrict the injunctions
of God to condemn outward acts alone, and do not consider it sin to
dishonor God in thoughts and affections. They flatter themselves that
they are keeping the law of Jehovah while their life and character as
daguerreotyped [photographed] in the books of heaven reveal them as
venturing to see how far they can go in the direction of wrongdoing
without being branded as transgressors of God’s law....
Every soul who desires to depart from all iniquity ... will be ever
laboring to be on the Lord’s side in thought, in word, and in character,
obedient to all His requirements. In the place of seeking opportunities
to evade the law of God, he will give the largest interpretation to His
far-reaching commandments and will strive most earnestly to bring the
will, the affections, and all the heart to exemplify the great principles
of His holy commandments.... The work must begin at the heart.... If
the heart is right with God, then the whole life will be purified, refined,
ennobled, sanctified. If the eye is single the whole body is filled with light.
Religion is not a matter of externalities.... Religion is a thing of the heart.
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