The Earth is the Lords
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Psalm 89:11-12 “The heavens [are] thine, the earth also [is] thine: [as for] the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.” Psalm 24:1 “The earth [is] the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Revelation 22:12 “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”
Quote: “The instruction is to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” It is for our own interest that we secure heavenly riches. God is not benefited by our benevolence. The cattle upon a thousand hills are His. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” Psalm 24:1. But in using the gifts that He has entrusted to our care for the salvation of souls, we transfer our wealth to the treasury of heaven. When we are seeking the glory of God, and hasting unto the day of God, we are colabourers with Christ, and our joy is not a base and fleeting emotion; but it is the joy of our Lord. We are elevated above the corroding, perplexing cares of this frail, fickle world. While we are in this world, we are subject to losses and disappointments. Thieves break through and steal; moth and rust corrupt; fire and storm sweep away our possessions. . . How many have devoted life and soul to acquiring wealth, but were not rich toward God; and when adversity came upon them, and their possessions were swept away, they had nothing laid up in heaven. They had lost all–both temporal and eternal riches. . Everything that is laid up upon earth may be swept away in a moment; but nothing can disturb the treasure that is laid up in heaven.” {OHC 195}
Quote: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). This world is the Lord’s storehouse, from which we are ever drawing. He has provided fruits and grains and vegetables for our sustenance. For us He makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall. The whole human family, good and evil, are constantly drawing from God’s storehouse. It makes every difference with those so highly privileged how they receive the Lord’s gifts and how they treat the contract the Lord has made with them. He has made them His “Official Distributor of Gifts,” directing them to draw from His storehouse, and then make a return to Him in gifts and offerings, “that there may be meat in mine house.”– {UL 360}
Quote: “But are good works of no real value? Is the sinner who commits sin every day with impunity, regarded of God with the same favour as the one who through faith in Christ tries to work in his integrity? The Scripture answers, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” In His divine arrangement, through His unmerited favour, the Lord has ordained that good works shall be rewarded. We are accepted through Christ’s merit alone; and the acts of mercy, the deeds of charity, which we perform, are the fruits of faith; and they become a blessing to us; for men are to be rewarded according to their works. It is the fragrance of the merit of Christ that makes our good works acceptable to God, and it is grace that enables us to do the works for which He rewards us. Our works in and of themselves have no merit. . . . We deserve no thanks from God. We have only done what it was our duty to do, and our works could not have been performed in the strength of our own sinful natures. Christ is able to save to the uttermost. . . . All that man can possibly do toward his own salvation is to accept the invitation, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17. No sin can be committed by man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary.” {OHC 122}
Quote: “God desires His people to show by their lives the advantage of Christianity over worldliness. We are to live so that God can use us in His work of converting men and women and leading them to wash their garments of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. We are His workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Through us God desires to reveal His manifold wisdom. Therefore He bids us let our light shine forth in good works.” {2SM157}
Quote: “But it is the life of Jesus Christ in the soul; it is the active principle of love imparted by the Holy Spirit, that alone will make the soul fruitful unto good works. The love of Christ is the force and power of every message for God that ever fell from human lips. What kind of a future is before us if we shall fail to come into the unity of the faith? When we are united in the unity for which Christ prayed, this long controversy that has been kept up through satanic agency will end, and we shall not see men framing plans after the order of the world because they have not spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things.” {TM 468}
Quote: “The Lord directs every mind that yields to the power of his love, and reveals to it the mystery of godliness. Yield yourself entirely into his keeping; for his love is everlasting and unchangeable. Consecrate your powers to him. The divine influence of his love will diffuse itself through the chambers of your mind; your soul-temple will be cleansed from all selfishness; your heart, filled with all that is pure and lovely, will reveal the mysteries of redeeming love. Then you shall be indeed God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” “sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use.” {ST 19/11/1896} Dear Reader, are you completing “Good Works?”
