A timeless instruction given by Jesus echoes down to us today: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

Thus He requires from all - the lowly as well as the privileged people within His church - a thorough surrender. Nonetheless this is not what we see in the life of some in our churches. What we see is that “the want of fervor, the lack of self-denial, on the part of many who bear Christ’s name, hinder the doing of the very work for which His church on earth was organized. The selfishness and indifference manifested by professing Christians soothes the consciences of many who would be aroused from their unbelief, had they before them in the lives of professing Christians, a living witness to the power of the gospel to transform the character.

“Self-sacrifice is the keynote of Christ’s teachings.”1

To lack self-denial means to be full of selfishness, the very defect that impedes us from taking up the cross of Christ. This actually expels the Lord Himself from our life, causing His bloodstained banner to be heavily trodden down and hidden from sight instead of being raised higher. To all who would be His disciples, Jesus commands: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

God appeals to us to seek His kingdom as the first priority in our life, displacing anything that could be suggested by a selfish heart. And surely this will be so if our conversion experience is genuine. Christ makes it clear that perfection is to be our target. He says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

In order to achieve perfection, one must give earnest heed to God’s word. But what are we seeing among many who profess to be true disciples of Jesus? While the Holy Spirit is saying, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22), God’s word is losing power and authority among the masses. It would do us well to take heed of Christ’s parable in Matthew 7. Jesus compared the “hearing-only” class of believers to a foolish man, saying, “Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand” (Matthew 7:26).

Let us think of ourselves and refrain from building the house-of-our-life’s-dream upon the sand of our own imaginations, opinions, and conclusions, when there is a Rock where to build upon! What foolishness! Jesus ended His story saying that the house “fell: and great was the fall of it” (verse 27). By the shocking results in this story, can’t we realize how important it is to faithfully obey God’s word rather than to follow our own inclinations? Let us not forget that “It is the doing of the words and works of Christ that testifies to the saving qualities of [our] faith.”2 Why then do so many act in opposition to God’s word? Inspiration explains that “some stumble at the word of truth. It does not harmonize with their inclinations, and therefore they refuse to be doers of the word.”3 Such do wrong not because they ignore God’s word, but because they love their own inclinations. Do they realize what is meant by their refusal to obey? By building upon the sand Jesus meant not giving heed to His word. Many professed believers think they can cherish the customs and practices of the world, discarding God’s word - and yet still be in God’s favor.

But the following is more astonishing! Another reason why the people love the world and “the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15) is that even their leaders are entangled in Satan’s snares so that God can’t use them to work for the salvation of His people. “Will God send out a man to rescue souls from the snare of Satan, when his own feet are entangled in the net? . . . If their feet are sliding, how can they say to those of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong’? God would have His servants hold up the feeble hands and strengthen the wavering. Those who are not prepared to do this, would better first labor for themselves, and pray until they are endowed with power from on high.”4

“With many who claim to be Christians there is a painful certainty that they are not progressing heavenward but are swayed by the customs and practices of the world. Fashions - the most unlovely, and unhealthful, the most contradictory to the laws of nature, are readily accepted by them. By eagerly beholding these fashions, they become changed to the likeness of what they so much admire. Thus they hasten to adopt the world’s standard, where pride and fashion complete in them the transformation which Satan delights to see accomplished, and they become unstable as water.”5

“God is displeased with the lack of self-denial in some of His servants. They have not the burden of the work upon them. They seem to be in a death-like stupor. Angels of God stand amazed and ashamed of this lack of self-denial and perseverance.”6

Too many venture to go along with the world’s current, forgetting that “Christians should not follow the customs and practices of the world.”7

Certainly we cannot venture into these easy practices, lest we be changed into the likeness of the world.

By the constraining power of the Holy Spirit, there are those who strive to do God’s will at any cost, of whom He says; “but to [these men] will I look, even to [them] that [are] poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).

These souls are of great value in God’s sight. He bids them to be steadfast in the truth, saying, “Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them” (Jeremiah 15:19). They should stand against the evil influence with the might God has given them. “The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.”8

This is the only way to be in God’s favor. Jesus says, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). And He declares to every disciple: “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). And He adds:

“When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). So He calls us to have a progressive spirit of reformation. However, when we see our spiritual condition, we find ourselves doing not even the least of what He has required. Is it appropriate for Christians to toy with worldly customs, practices, and ideals in open rejection of God’s will? Certainly it isn’t, brethren and sisters.

“Our faith requires us to elevate the standard of reform and take advance steps. The condition of our acceptance with God is a practical separation from the world. The Lord calls upon us as a people, ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate,’ ‘and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you’ (2 Corinthians 6:17). The world may despise you because you do not meet their standard, engage in their dissipating amusements, and follow their pernicious ways; but the God of heaven promises to receive you, and to be a Father unto you.”9

What a wonderful promise is this! It should be enough to encourage us to fight vigorously against our inclinations to meet the world standard.

This necessary separation from the world is not merely physical. It is spiritual. Many think that they are separated from the world just because they no longer fellowship with worldly-minded persons. Yet, sadly, they are still craving worldly things and even dare to do them within God’s church, adversely affecting especially the young.

“The standard of piety is low among professed Christians generally, and it is hard for the young to resist the worldly influences that are encouraged by many church members. The majority of nominal Christians, while they profess to be living for Christ, are really living for the world.”10

But “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.”11

“The truly converted laborer in [God’s cause] will not be molded after the customs and practices of the world, but will stand in moral independence. He will set an example that will be consistent with his profession, coming out from the world, and maintaining a separation from its spirit and fashions. He will not be turned in the least from his steadfast purpose to be one with Christ, nor yield an iota from his stand of fidelity to God, in opposition to pride, to indulgence in selfish amusement, to expenditure of means for the gratification of inclination or love of display, but will be an example in spirit, deportment, and dress.”12

“Believers are to shine as lights in the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. A church, separate and distinct from the world, is in the estimation of heaven the greatest object in all the earth. The members are pledged to be separate from the world, consecrating their service to one Master, Jesus Christ. They are to reveal that they have chosen Christ as their leader. . . . The church is to be as God designed it should be, a representative of God’s family in another world.”13

Dear brethren and sisters, what happens if we do not elevate the standard of reform in our behavior, our attire, and in every aspect of our life? One thing we must realize: “It is [worldly] things that separate God from His people, that shut the ark away from them. [God’s professed people] have been asleep to the pride, and fashion, and conformity to the world, in the very midst of them. They advance every month in pride, covetousness, selfishness, and love of the world. . . . And as soon as any have a desire to imitate the fashions of the world, that they do not immediately subdue, just so soon God ceases to acknowledge them as His children. They are the children of the world and of darkness. They lust for the leeks and onions of Egypt, that is, desire to be as much like the world as possible; by so doing, those that profess to have put on Christ virtually put Him off, and show that they are strangers to grace and strangers to the meek and lowly Jesus.”14

And you, dear reader, who have gone through these lines, do not for a moment think that this applies only to someone else. Isn’t God speaking to all of us? It is not a trifling thing to cherish worldly fashions, pleasing Satan in his designs. As individuals as well as a church, we do not want to put Jesus out of our life. If we do, we will be discarded by God as His children. May God help us all!