Separation From the World, Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students by EGW, pg 244-245
"The true
followers of Christ will have sacrifices to make. They will shun places of
worldly amusement because they find no Jesus there—no influence which will make
them heavenly-minded and increase their growth in grace. Obedience to the word
of God will lead them to come out
from all these things and be separate.
“By
their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20),
the Saviour declared. All the true followers of Christ bear fruit to His glory.
Their lives testify that a good work has been wrought in them by the Spirit of
God, and their fruit is unto holiness. Their lives are elevated and pure. Right
actions are the unmistakable fruit of true godliness, and those who bear no
fruit of this kind reveal that they have no experience in the things of God. They
are not in the Vine. Said Jesus, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in
Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do
nothing.” John 15:4, 5.
Those
who would be worshipers of the true God must sacrifice every idol. Jesus said
to the lawyer, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew
22:37, 38. The first four precepts of the Decalogue allow no
separation of affections from God. Nor must anything share our supreme delight
in Him. We cannot advance in Christian experience until we put away everything
that separates us from God.
The great Head of the church, who
has chosen His people out of the world, requires them to be separate from the
world. He designs that the spirit of His commandments, by drawing His followers
to Himself, shall separate them from worldly elements. To love God and keep His
commandments is far away from loving the world’s pleasures and its friendship.
There is no concord between Christ and Belial."
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