A High Standard

[Thompson, Darryl]

-----------------------------------------------------------
Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for December 5
Visit us at http://www.whiteestate.org
-----------------------------------------------------------

A High Standard

And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed
you from other people, that ye should be mine. Lev. 20:26. 

I also saw many do not realize what they must be in order to live in the
sight of the Lord without a high priest in the sanctuary through the
time of trouble. Those who receive the seal of the living God and are
protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully.

I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful and were
looking to the time of "refreshing" and the "latter rain" to fit them to
stand in the day of the Lord and to live in His sight. Oh, how many I
saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the
needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the refreshing
that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God. Those
who . . . fail to purify their souls in obeying the whole truth . . .
will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see
that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building. But there
will be . . . no Mediator to plead their cause before the Father. Before
this time the awfully solemn declaration has gone forth, "He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be
filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and
he that is holy, let him be holy still."

I saw that none could share the "refreshing" unless they obtain the
victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the
world, and over every wrong word and action. We should, therefore, be
drawing nearer and nearer to the Lord and be earnestly seeking that
preparation necessary to enable us to stand in the battle in the day of
the Lord. Let all remember that God is holy and that none but holy
beings can ever dwell in His presence.

We are today to watch that we offend not in word or deed. . . . We must
today seek God and be determined that we will not rest satisfied without
His presence. We should watch and work and pray as though this were the
last day that would be granted us. How intensely earnest, then, would be
our life. How closely would we follow Jesus in all our words and deeds.

>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, pp. 318, 319.