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Nothing Too Precious to Give to God, July 4
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that
had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.
Hebrews 11:17
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Abraham’s test was the most severe that could come to a human being.
Had he failed under it, he would never have been registered as the father
of the faithful.... The lesson was given to shine down through the ages,
that we may learn that there is nothing too precious to be given to God. It
is when we look upon every gift as the Lord’s, to be used in His service,
that we secure the heavenly benediction. Give back to God your entrusted
possessions, and more will be entrusted to you. Keep your possessions
to yourself, and you will receive no reward in this life, and will lose the
reward of the life to come....
There are many who have never made an unreserved surrender of
themselves to God. They have not a right idea of the infinite sacrifice
made by God to save a ruined world. If God should speak to them as He
did to Abraham, they would not be sufficiently acquainted with His voice
to know that He was calling upon them to make a sacrifice, in order to
test the depth of their love and the sincerity of their faith.
The plague spot of selfishness is as contagious as leprosy. Those
who enter the heavenly courts must be purified from every vestige of this
plague....
The Lord has a great work for us to do, and He invites us to look to
Him, to trust in Him, to walk with Him, to talk with Him. He invites us
to make an unreserved surrender of all that we have and are to Him, that
when He shall call upon us to sacrifice for Him, we may be ready and
willing to obey. We shall enjoy the fullness of divine grace only as we give
all to Christ. We shall know the meaning of true happiness only as we keep
the fire burning on the altar of sacrifice. God will bequeath the most in the
future to those who have done the most in the present.... Each day, under
different circumstances, He tries us; and in each truehearted endeavor He
chooses His workers, not because they are perfect, but because they are
willing to work unselfishly for Him, and He sees that through connection
with Him they may gain perfection.
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