Happiness in Obedience, October 12

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Colossians 1:12, 13. {TMK 291.1} Our future eternal happiness depends upon having our humanity, with all its capabilities and powers, brought into obedience to God and placed under the control of Divinity. Many have no faith in Jesus Christ. They say, "It was easy for Christ to obey the will of His Father, for He was divine." But His Word declares He was "in all points tempted like as we are" (Hebrews 4:15). He was tempted according to and in proportion to His elevation of mind, but He would not weaken or cripple His divine power by yielding to temptation. In His life on earth Christ was a representative of what humanity may be through the privileges and opportunities granted them in Him. . . . {TMK 291.2} When Satan tempted our first parents . . . he tried to flatter them into believing that they should be raised above the sphere of humanity. But Christ, by the example He has set before us, encourages the members of the human family to be men, obeying the Word of God within the sphere of their humanity. He Himself became a man--not a bondslave to Satan to work out his attributes, but a man in moral power, obedient to the law of God, which is a transcript of His character. Those who would rebel against subjection to a wise and good law emanating from God are slaves to an apostate power. {TMK 291.3} Jesus became a man that He might mediate between man and God, . . . that He might restore to man the original mind which he lost in Eden through Satan's alluring temptation. . . . Disobedience is not in accordance with the nature which God gave to man in Eden. {TMK 291.4} Through the moral power Christ has brought to man, we may give thanks unto God who hath made us meet for the inheritance with the saints in light. Through Jesus Christ every man may overcome in his own behalf and on his own account, standing in his own individuality of character.