Page 8 - How to Be a Victorious Christian - eBook
P. 8

On the contrary, those who walk in triumph through heaven's wide-swinging gates
           will do so because they will have gained the victory over the world, the flesh, and the
           devil. And to do so will take everything they have.


                  No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering effort in his own

           behalf. All must engage in this warfare for themselves. Individually we are
           responsible for the issue of the struggle; though Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the
                  land, they could deliver neither son nor daughter by their righteousness.
           -Testimonies, vol. 8, pp. 313, 314.


                  We have great victories to gain, and a heaven to lose if we do not gain them.
           -Ibid., vol. 5, p. 267.



           In pondering my approach to this book I recognized a problem-indeed, a danger-
           inherent in writing a manuscript of this nature: the problem of balance and the
           danger involved in imbalance.


           A certain emphasis will be found in this book because of the very nature of my

           subject. This emphasis could lead to misunderstanding on the part of some. The
           apostle James, in his accentuation of works in his theme of working faith, caused
           Martin Luther to belittle his letter as "an epistle of straw." Others have had similar
           problems with James. And there are those who have problems with other parts of the
           Holy Scriptures for similar reasons.


           Moreover, I remember Ellen White's caution to "Brother K," as found in Selected

           Messages, book 1, pages 176, 177. Her admonitions there regarding the expressing
           of ideas in such a way as to be misunderstood and to cause problems must be taken
           very seriously.


           In writing, I recalled words by Konrad Adenauer, former Chancellor of West
           Germany: "We are all under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon."



           This book is written from the particular point where I see the horizon. It is penned as
           growing from my study, my observations, my experience. In doing this, I have tried
           to keep my eyes as much as possible away from the horizon, and toward the sky that
           covers us all. I have also tried to look beyond the sky we see, to Him who knows and
           respects us all as individuals, remembering at the same time that His conditions and
           standards are immovable, eternal.



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