“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”—Matthew 7:20
The work for this time is to appeal to the Christian’s mind as the most important work that can be done. It is the question of cultivating the Lord’s vineyard. In this vineyard every person has a lot and a place, which the Lord has assigned him. And the success of each depends on his individual relationship to the one Divine Head.
The grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ and His tender relationship to His church on earth are to be revealed by the growth of His work and the evangelization of people in many places. The heavenly principles of truth and righteousness are to be seen more and still more plainly in the lives of Christ’s followers. More unselfishness and uncovetousness is to be seen in business transactions than has been seen in the churches since the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Not a vestige of the influence of selfish, worldly monopolies is to make the slightest impression on the people who are watching and working and praying for the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
As a people we are not ready for the Lord’s appearing. If we would close the windows of the soul earthward and open them heavenward, every institution established would be a bright and shining light in the world. Each member of the church, if he lived the great, elevated, ennobling truths for this time, would be a bright, shining light. God’s people cannot please Him unless they are surcharged with the Holy Spirit’s efficiency. So pure and true is to be their relationship to one another that by their words, their affections, their attributes, they will show that they are one with Christ. They are to be as signs and wonders in our world, carrying forward intelligently every line of the work. And the different parts of the work are to be so harmoniously related to one another that all will move like well-regulated machinery. Then will the joy of Christ’s salvation be understood. There will then be none of the representation now made by those who have been given the light of truth to communicate, but who have not revealed the principles of truth in their association with one another, who have not done the Lord’s work in a way that glorifies Him.—Selected Messages 1:113, 114.
Further Reflection: What good is knowing truth if I lack the love shown by Christ?
From Jesus, Name Above All Names - Page 35
Jesus, Name Above All Names