MAN'S DUTY TO GOD
So he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "--Luke 10:27
These words sum up the whole duty of man. They mean the consecration of the whole being--body, soul, and spirit--to God's service. How can men obey these words, and at the same time pledge themselves to support that which deprives their neighbor's freedom of action? And how can one obey these words and form combinations that rob the power classes of the advantages that justly belong to them, preventing them from buying or selling, except under certain conditions? How plainly the words of God have predicted this condition of things. John writes, "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
The forming of these unions is one of Satan's last efforts. God calls upon His people to get out of the cities, isolating themselves from the world....
The farther away we are from the cities, the better it will be; for they are filled with men who have no sense of honor or true elevation, men who are ambitious for gain and who to obtain gain will resort to any means. (Letter 26, December 10, 1902)
REFLECTION: The lesson is no less needed in the world today than when it fell from the lips of Jesus. Selfishness and cold formality have well-nigh extinguished the fire of love, and dispelled the graces that should make fragrant the character....Unless there is practical self-sacrifice for the good of others, in the family circle, in the neighborhood, in the church, and wherever we may be, then whatever our profession, we are not Christians. (The Desire of Ages, 504)
So he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "--Luke 10:27
These words sum up the whole duty of man. They mean the consecration of the whole being--body, soul, and spirit--to God's service. How can men obey these words, and at the same time pledge themselves to support that which deprives their neighbor's freedom of action? And how can one obey these words and form combinations that rob the power classes of the advantages that justly belong to them, preventing them from buying or selling, except under certain conditions? How plainly the words of God have predicted this condition of things. John writes, "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
The forming of these unions is one of Satan's last efforts. God calls upon His people to get out of the cities, isolating themselves from the world....
The farther away we are from the cities, the better it will be; for they are filled with men who have no sense of honor or true elevation, men who are ambitious for gain and who to obtain gain will resort to any means. (Letter 26, December 10, 1902)
REFLECTION: The lesson is no less needed in the world today than when it fell from the lips of Jesus. Selfishness and cold formality have well-nigh extinguished the fire of love, and dispelled the graces that should make fragrant the character....Unless there is practical self-sacrifice for the good of others, in the family circle, in the neighborhood, in the church, and wherever we may be, then whatever our profession, we are not Christians. (The Desire of Ages, 504)
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