Spiritual Prescription LOST THROUGH NEGLECT
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Heb. 2:3.
"If Joseph and Mary had stayed their minds upon God by meditation and prayer they...would not have lost sight of Jesus. By one day's neglect they lost the Saviour; but is cost them three days of anxious search to find Him. So with us;...we may in one day lose the Saviour's presence, and it may take many days of sorrowful search to find Him, and regain the peace that we have lost."--The Desire of Ages, p. 83.
When we have lost sight of Jesus, the devil has a way of working to keep us from finding Him again, doesn't he? When my attention is away from Jesus, Satan comes in with his big guns blazing, and I fall and fail and sin. Then he says, "Well, now, God is probably mad at you. You'd better behave yourself for a couple of weeks, while you give Him a chance to cool off, before you try coming back again." After ten days he hits me again, and I fall once more. Then he insists I have to wait another two weeks! This kind of waiting can go on and on. We can have the experience of losing Jesus at camp meeting, supposing Him to be in the company, and taking a whole year to find Him again. Why? Because He's lost? No, because of neglect on our part.
"Many attend religious services, and are refreshed and comforted by the word of God; but through neglect of meditation, watchfulness, and prayer, they lose the blessing, and find themselves more destitute than before they received it."--Ibid.
Have you ever observed a reformation that was followed by a deeper apostasy? Have you ever seen a revival on a campus or in a church, and discovered after it was over that things were worse than before it came? What is the problem? Neglect of meditation, watchfulness, and prayer.
Had Joseph and Mary done as Jesus did, and been about their Father's business, they would not have lost sight of Jesus. That was their business. And that's my business today--to stay close to Jesus.
The principle involved in salvation by faith is the trolley-car principle, not the battery principle. There is power no longer than there is connection with the line above. None are living Christians unless they have a daily experience in the things of God.
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Heb. 2:3.
"If Joseph and Mary had stayed their minds upon God by meditation and prayer they...would not have lost sight of Jesus. By one day's neglect they lost the Saviour; but is cost them three days of anxious search to find Him. So with us;...we may in one day lose the Saviour's presence, and it may take many days of sorrowful search to find Him, and regain the peace that we have lost."--The Desire of Ages, p. 83.
When we have lost sight of Jesus, the devil has a way of working to keep us from finding Him again, doesn't he? When my attention is away from Jesus, Satan comes in with his big guns blazing, and I fall and fail and sin. Then he says, "Well, now, God is probably mad at you. You'd better behave yourself for a couple of weeks, while you give Him a chance to cool off, before you try coming back again." After ten days he hits me again, and I fall once more. Then he insists I have to wait another two weeks! This kind of waiting can go on and on. We can have the experience of losing Jesus at camp meeting, supposing Him to be in the company, and taking a whole year to find Him again. Why? Because He's lost? No, because of neglect on our part.
"Many attend religious services, and are refreshed and comforted by the word of God; but through neglect of meditation, watchfulness, and prayer, they lose the blessing, and find themselves more destitute than before they received it."--Ibid.
Have you ever observed a reformation that was followed by a deeper apostasy? Have you ever seen a revival on a campus or in a church, and discovered after it was over that things were worse than before it came? What is the problem? Neglect of meditation, watchfulness, and prayer.
Had Joseph and Mary done as Jesus did, and been about their Father's business, they would not have lost sight of Jesus. That was their business. And that's my business today--to stay close to Jesus.
The principle involved in salvation by faith is the trolley-car principle, not the battery principle. There is power no longer than there is connection with the line above. None are living Christians unless they have a daily experience in the things of God.
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