We are called to be shining lights in this world of darkness, a special people. Jesus makes the appeal to all His followers, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).

The apostle Paul reflects this thought by giving a practical explanation, bidding us: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:12–15).

In other words, we are called to be perfect and righteous, standing as faithful witnesses for the Lord in all circumstances. But how can imperfect humans live up to the righteous standard of God?

In the time of the Exodus movement, “Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins” (Joshua 24:19).

“It was possible for Adam, before the fall, to form a righteous character by obedience to God’s law. But he failed to do this, and because of his sin our natures are fallen and we cannot make ourselves righteous. Since we are sinful, unholy, we cannot perfectly obey the holy law. We have no righteousness of our own with which to meet the claims of the law of God.”1

Alone it is impossible for us to attain perfection, yet the Bible is clear that we will not make it to heaven unless we become righteous and stand for God, witnessing for Him despite unfavorable circumstances. So, what now?

The reference quoted above finishes with these words:

“But Christ has made a way of escape for us.”2

In 2000, a pastor moved to the United States to work there, but he did not speak English fluently. He wanted and needed to learn it as fast as possible to be more efficient in his pastoral work.

He started studying earnestly—two hours every day at ESL (English as a Second Language) school and many more hours at home.

But it was frustrating for him to see how slowly he was progressing. One day, he called the General Conference office, and a sister picked up the phone.

“How is your English doing?” she asked.

“I don’t know what is happening,” he answered. “I am studying for hours every day, but it seems I am not learning much.”

“Have you prayed to ask the Lord to help you with this matter?” she asked.

The brother went silent before replying, “That is probably what is missing.”

To him, learning English was his obligation, something he had to do. But, in his despair to learn quickly, he forgot something important—the words of Jesus: “… for without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).

After that conversation, he prayed that God would help him learn the language faster. He rejoiced to see God’s intervention when, within three months of hard work, he could read and speak English and translate it into two other languages!

A similar experience may happen with our desire to grow spiritually:

“Many have an idea that they must do some part of the work alone. They have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sin, but now they seek by their own efforts to live aright. But every such effort must fail. Jesus says, ‘Without Me ye can do nothing.’ Our growth in grace, our joy, our usefulness—all depend upon our union with Christ. It is by communion with Him, daily, hourly—by abiding in Him—that we are to grow in grace.”3

Yes, we can do it, but not alone! The apostle Paul gives the secret:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

When I was sixteen years old, my brother and I passed by the church on a weekday and found an elderly brother crying like a child in one of the back rooms of the church.

Surprised, we went to him, trying to understand what was happening. Crying, he said: “I am a shameless old man, because after being in the church for over forty years, once again I have sinned.”

This brother was a sincere soul. He was a work in progress, whom Satan was trying to lead into despair, tempting him to give up.

The enemy tries the same with you and me. He tempts us to give up, whispering thoughts into our mind such as:

“You have been in the church for such a long time and you are still not perfect. You will never be able to do it. God is disappointed in you; the church is disappointed in you. You are deceiving yourself. You had better give up.”

Don’t believe the enemy! He is lying!

You are a work in progress that God started, and He will finish it:

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

“There are those who have known the pardoning love of Christ and who really desire to be children of God, yet they realize that their character is imperfect, their life faulty, and they are ready to doubt whether their hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit. To such I would say, Do not draw back in despair. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes, but we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken and rejected of God.”4

Maybe you are learning a new language, trying to lose weight or improve your health reform, attempting to be patient, keep the Sabbath, get married, graduate, or serve the Lord more faithfully.

Have you prayed about it?

Nothing is too small for Him if it matters to you. Nothing is too big for Him that He cannot do it.

“Man is to make earnest efforts to overcome that which hinders him from attaining to perfection. But he is wholly dependent upon God for success. Human effort of itself is not sufficient. Without the aid of divine power it avails nothing. God works and man works. Resistance of temptation must come from man, who must draw his power from God. On the one side there is infinite wisdom, compassion, and power; on the other, weakness, sinfulness, absolute helplessness.”5

Jesus was betrayed by one of His disciples, denied by one of His most zealous followers, mocked, crowned with a crown of thorns, and scourged. He was forced to bear the burden of the cross and felt the bitterness of sin as no other being could feel it.

He was pure, holy, and undefiled, yet arraigned as a criminal. Step by step He humbled Himself to die—but what a death! Death upon the cross as a malefactor was the most shameful, the cruelest. He did not die as a hero in the eyes of the world, laden with honors as men in battle.

He died as a condemned criminal, suspended between the heavens and the earth—a lingering death of shame, exposed to the insults and abuses of a debased multitude!

Yet He never gave up—because He had you in mind. He withstood for a purpose: to save you!

The promise He makes is not for the best or the strongest, but for those who will persevere until the end, walking—not alone—but with Him, trusting in the power of His blood to save.

He assures us that “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

Job knew this secret: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him” (Job 13:15).

When you are tempted to give up, listen to the hopeful encouragement of Jesus through His Holy Spirit:

The apostle Paul relates an experience when he was tempted to be discouraged: He explains, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7–12). [Emphasis added.]

“Many are in the greatest danger of failing to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. . . . They do not watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation. If they would watch, they would become acquainted with their weak points, where they are most likely to be assailed by temptation. With watchfulness and prayer their weakest points can be so guarded as to become their strongest points, and they can encounter temptation without being overcome.”6

Look at these reassuring words from the pen of Inspiration, that apply to every tempted soul while probation lingers:

“The Lord has not left you. He is a God of tender compassion and wonderful loving-kindness, and He does not desire you to walk in darkness. You need not cast yourself away; for the Lord says, ‘His life need not be a failure. I will make him Mine. I will show him that I prize his soul. I will strive with him, and lift him up. He must not perish. I have a special work for him to do. If he will unite with Me, believe in Me, and work for Me, his weakest points of character, notwithstanding his past failures, will become his strongest points.”7

“You desire to make your life such as will fit you for heaven at last. You are often discouraged at finding yourself weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits and customs of your old life in sin. You find your emotional nature untrue to yourself, to your best resolutions, and to your most solemn pledges. Nothing seems real. Your own instability leads you to doubt the sincerity of those who would do you good. The more you struggle in doubt, the more unreal everything looks to you, until it seems that there is no solid ground for you anywhere. Your promises are like ropes of sand, and you regard in the same unreal light the words and works of those in whom you should trust.”8

“You will be in constant peril until you understand the true force of the will. You may believe and promise all things, but your promises or your faith are of no value until you put your will on the side of faith and action. If you fight the fight of faith with all your will power, you will conquer. Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions, are not to be trusted, for they are not reliable, especially with your perverted ideas; and the knowledge of your broken promises and your forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in yourself, and the faith of others in you.

“But you need not despair. You must be determined to believe, although nothing seems true and real to you. I need not tell you it is yourself that has brought you into this unenviable position. You must win back your confidence in God and in your brethren. It is for you to yield up your will to the will of Jesus Christ; and as you do this, God will immediately take possession, and work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Your whole nature will then be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; and even your thoughts will be subject to Him.

“You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire, but you can control the will, and you can make an entire change in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, your life will be hid with Christ in God, and allied to the power which is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from God that will hold you fast to His strength; and a new light, even the light of living faith, will be possible to you. . . .

“Will you not say, ‘I will give my will to Jesus, and I will do it now,’ and from this moment be wholly on the Lord’s side?”9

“Do not listen to the enemy’s suggestion to stay away from Christ until you have made yourself better, until you are good enough to come to God. If you wait till then, you will never come. You might wait till the judgment, but you would not be fit to come to Christ. It is today that you are to yield to the drawing power of Christ, and come to Him as you are. He will continue to draw you as you come, until every thought shall be brought into captivity to Him. When the enemy seeks to keep you from your Saviour, tell him that Jesus has said, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ And why does Christ draw you to Himself?—It is that He may make you more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir. One soul is of more worth to Jesus than the whole world.

“Then if we are so precious to Jesus, shall we not seek to come into as close relation to Him as is the branch to the vine? Shall we not abide in Him as He has commanded us to do? The moment we separate from Jesus, the enemy knows it, and he begins to cast his shadow across our pathway, that we may lose sight of Jesus. Satan presents his specious temptations, that we may fall into sin, and then when we yield to his allurements, he has more power over us, and will keep the mind in darkness. Oh, let the tempted soul rise up, and in the strength of Jesus say: ‘I will have no more connection with the enemy. I stand under the blood-stained banner of the Prince Emmanuel.’ ”10 Amen!