[February 18]
Be ye...followers of God, as dear children.
Ephesians 5:1
IT IS high time that we learn that we cannot serve
God and mammon, and that we choose between these.
If we do not choose the Lord and his service and place
these first before our hearts' affections, we will be
counted as placing the others first—the interests of the
natural man—and the Lord's appreciation of us and the
reward he will give us will correspond. He has indeed
blessings for all the families of the earth, but the special
blessing presented in the exceeding great and
precious promises of glory, honor, and immortality
are for those who love him supremely, more than they
love houses or lands, business or wealth, family or
kindred or self. Our exhortation to all who have forsaken
all to follow the Lord is that we do not look
back, that we estimate that we have made the grandest
bargain imaginable, that we are in the way for
obtaining the grandest prize imaginable, together with
association with our Lord in his wonderful work and
with the divine approval. Z'06-47 R3721:4(Hymn
312A)