v

Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 91-93.

“‘If . . . thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.’ Matthew 6:22.

“Singleness of purpose, wholehearted devotion to God, is the condition pointed out

by the Saviour’s words. Let the purpose be sincere and unwavering to discern the

truth and to obey it at whatever cost, and you will receive divine enlightenment.

Real piety begins when all compromise with sin is at an end. Then the language of

the heart will be that of the apostle Paul: ‘This one thing I do, forgetting those

things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I

press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ ‘I

count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my

Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,

that I may win Christ.’ Philippians 3:13, 14, 8.

“But when the eye is blinded by the love of self, there is only darkness. ‘If thine eye

be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” It was this fearful darkness that

wrapped the Jews in stubborn unbelief, making it impossible for them to appreciate

the character and mission of Him who came to save them from their sins.

“Yielding to temptation begins in permitting the mind to waver, to be inconstant in

your trust in God. If we do not choose to give ourselves fully to God then we are in

darkness. When we make any reserve we are leaving open a door through which

Satan can enter to lead us astray by his temptations. He knows that if he can

obscure our vision, so that the eye of faith cannot see God, there will be no barrier

against sin.

“The prevalence of a sinful desire shows the delusion of the soul. Every indulgence

of that desire strengthens the soul’s aversion to God. In following the path of

Satan’s choosing, we are encompassed by the shadows of evil, and every step

leads into deeper darkness and increases the blindness of the heart.

“The same law obtains in the spiritual as in the natural world. He who abides in

darkness will at last lose the power of vision. He is shut in by a deeper than

midnight blackness; and to him the brightest noontide can bring no light. He

‘walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness

hath blinded his eyes.’ 1 John 2:11. Through persistently cherishing evil, willfully

disregarding the pleadings of divine love, the sinner loses the love for good, the

desire for God, the very capacity to receive the light of heaven. The invitation of

mercy is still full of love, the light is shining as brightly as when it first dawned

upon his soul; but the voice falls on deaf ears, the light on blinded eyes.

“No soul is ever finally deserted of God, given up to his own ways, so long as there

Sabbath Afternoon | Today’s Reading

Created in God’s Image | Lesson 4 | July 28, 2012

Image Is Everything

is any hope of his salvation. ‘Man turns from God, not God from him.’ Our heavenly

Father follows us with appeals and warnings and assurances of compassion, until

further opportunities and privileges would be wholly in vain. The responsibility rests

with the sinner. By resisting the Spirit of God today, he prepares the way for a

second resistance of light when it comes with mightier power. Thus he passes on

from one stage of resistance to another, until at last the light will fail to impress,

and he will cease to respond in any measure to the Spirit of God. Then even “the

light that is in thee” has become darkness. The very truth we do know has become

so perverted as to increase the blindness of the soul.

“‘No man can serve two masters.’ Matthew 6:24.

“Christ does not say that man will not or shall not serve two masters, but that he

cannot. The interests of God and the interests of mammon have no union or

sympathy. Just where the conscience of the Christian warns him to forbear, to deny

himself, to stop, just there the worldling steps over the line, to indulge his selfish

propensities. On one side of the line is the self-denying follower of Christ; on the

other side is the self-indulgent world lover, pandering to fashion, engaging in

frivolity, and pampering himself in forbidden pleasure. On that side of the line the

Christian cannot go.”

1. Highlight the paragraph that discusses what your purpose should be.

2. Highlight the paragraph that tells you which side of the line the Christian

cannot go on.

Conflict and Courage, p. 371

“God looks into the tiny seed that He Himself has formed, and sees wrapped within

it the beautiful flower, the shrub, or the lofty, wide-spreading tree. So does He see

the possibilities in every human being. We are here for a purpose. God has given us

His plan for our life, and He desires us to reach the highest standard of

development. . . .

“He desires the youth to cultivate every power of their being, and to bring every

faculty into active exercise. . . . Let them look to Christ as the pattern after which

they are to be fashioned. The holy ambition that He revealed in His life they are to

cherish--an ambition to make the world better for their having lived in it. This is the

work to which they are called.

“You want now to . . . so relate yourself to society and to life that you may answer

the purpose of God in your creation.”

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

During the summer months, have you ever stopped to look at an anthill? Some

people can sit for hours just watching the thousands and thousands of little black

ants march up and down, and all around. It is fascinating to watch them, although

it does get a little tiresome after a while because they either move fast or really

slow. Imagine what God must see when He looks down at us. Thousands and

thousands of people marching around all day long, going in and out of buildings,

cars, homes, schools, and a million other places.

There are a couple of similarities between ants and us. In both the ant world and

the human world, we were created with the purpose of glorifying God in all we do.

We were also both created to focus our life and work on one being. For us, that is

God and His kingdom. For the ants, the queen of the hill and her kingdom is the

object of all their energy.

It is obvious that Satan has attacked our force by distracting us from our purpose

and our work. When God created us, He gave us each a different sense of humor,

personality, likes, and dislikes. But He gave us all the capacity to love and be loved.

In many ways we are wired up the way He is!

Consider the ants! From our perspective, they might lack the fancy clothes and the

individualism that we enjoy, but they are doing what they were created to do. The

same can be true for us. While many try to find satisfaction in life by being their

own person, they forget that they were created by and for another Person. Those

who discover this are never disappointed.

1. From your Bible concordance or Biblegateway.com, find the text (and write

it down) that says “go to the ant” (NIV).

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2. What is our purpose? (refer to Today’s Reading)

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Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 94, 95

“No one can occupy a neutral position; there is no middle class, who neither love

God nor serve the enemy of righteousness. Christ is to live in His human agents

and work through their faculties and act through their capabilities. Their will must

be submitted to His will; they must act with His Spirit. Then it is no more they that

live, but Christ that lives in them. He who does not give himself wholly to God is

under the control of another power, listening to another voice, whose suggestions

are of an entirely different character. Half-and-half service places the human agent

Sunday | Today’s Reading

on the side of the enemy as a successful ally of the hosts of darkness. When men

who claim to be soldiers of Christ engage with the confederacy of Satan, and help

along his side, they prove themselves enemies of Christ. They betray sacred trusts.

They form a link between Satan and the true soldiers, so that through these

agencies the enemy is constantly working to steal away the hearts of Christ’s

soldiers.

“The strongest bulwark of vice in our world is not the iniquitous life of the

abandoned sinner or the degraded outcast; it is that life which otherwise appears

virtuous, honorable, and noble, but in which one sin is fostered, one vice indulged.

To the soul that is struggling in secret against some giant temptation, trembling

upon the very verge of the precipice, such an example is one of the most powerful

enticements to sin. He who, endowed with high conceptions of life and truth and

honor, does yet willfully transgress one precept of God’s holy law, has perverted

His noble gifts into a lure to sin. Genius, talent, sympathy, even generous and

kindly deeds, may become decoys of Satan to entice other souls over the precipice

of ruin for this life and the life to come.

“‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the

world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the

flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of

the world.’ 1 John 2:15, 16.

1. Highlight the paragraph that discusses what happens when we don’t

“wholly” give ourselves to God.

2. Highlight the paragraph that tells us what Satan sometimes uses as a

“decoy.”

This Day with God, p. 310

“All that you lose and all that you gain, prosperity and adversity, let it make you

more like Jesus, the divine Pattern. Your happiness will be secured in preserving

your childlike trust, cherishing always the beauty and loveliness of a meek and

quiet spirit.—Letter 56, Oct. 28, 1874, to Edson White.”

HERE’S WHAT I THINK

Emily can’t help noticing how much attention Ginger gets from everyone in school.

Everyone loves her long black hair and thinks she is beautiful; and she’s so kind it’s

almost painful. Every day Emily sits behind Ginger and thinks She is perfect and

I’m so average! She desperately wants to look like Ginger, so she dyes her hair and

starts trying to dress like Ginger.

If Emily were one of your friends, or acquaintances, what would you do or say to

encourage her? What is she missing? What would be your approach to helping

Emily?

Go to http://guidemagazine.org/rtf to post your answers. Your thoughts and

feelings may seem clearer to you when you write them down, so we’ve provided

space for you here as well. You may also wish to share them with your class later.

Be up-front and honest.

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Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 95, 96.

“‘Be not anxious.” Matthew 6:25, R.V.

“He who has given you life knows your need of food to sustain it. He who created

the body is not unmindful of your need of raiment. Will not He who has bestowed

the greater gift bestow also what is needed to make it complete?

“Jesus pointed His hearers to the birds as they warbled their carols of praise,

unencumbered with thoughts of care, for ‘they sow not, neither do they reap;’ and

yet the great Father provides for their needs. And He asks, ‘Are not ye of much

more value than they?’ R.V.

“‘No sparrow falls without His care, No soul bows low but Jesus knows;

For He is with us everywhere,

And marks each bitter tear that flows. And He will never, never, never

Forsake the soul that trusts Him ever.’

“The hillsides and the fields were bright with flowers, and, pointing to them in the

dewy freshness of the morning, Jesus said, ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they

grow.’ The graceful forms and delicate hues of the plants and flowers may be

copied by human skill, but what touch can impart life to even one flower or blade of

grass? Every wayside blossom owes its being to the same power that set the starry

Monday | Today’s Reading

worlds on high. Through all created things thrills one pulse of life from the great

heart of God. The flowers of the field are clothed by His hand in richer robes than

have ever graced the forms of earthly kings. And ‘if God so clothe the grass of the

field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more

clothe you, O ye of little faith?’

“It is He who made the flowers and who gave to the sparrow its song who says,

‘Consider the lilies,’ ‘Behold the birds.’ R.V. In the loveliness of the things of nature

you may learn more of the wisdom of God than the schoolmen know. On the lily's

petals, God has written a message for you, written in language that your heart can

read only as it unlearns the lessons of distrust and selfishness and corroding care.

Why has He given you the singing birds and the gentle blossoms, but from the

overflowing love of a Father's heart, that would brighten and gladden your path of

life? All that was needed for existence would have been yours without the flowers

and birds, but God was not content to provide what would suffice for mere

existence. He has filled earth and air and sky with glimpses of beauty to tell you of

His loving thought for you. The beauty of all created things is but a gleam from the

shining of His glory. If He has lavished such infinite skill upon the things of nature,

for your happiness and joy, can you doubt that He will give you every needed

blessing?”

1. Highlight the paragraph that asks, “Are not ye of much more value than

they?”

2. Highlight the sentence that tells why God created “glimpses of beauty” for

you.

Created in God’s Image

We use words every day that we may not be fully aware of their meaning. Below, in

the grid of letters, are words that are synonyms for Create and Image. As you find

these words you will see a clearer picture of what God intends for us as members of

His kingdom.

Find the hidden words within the grid of letters. The words may run up, down, or

diagonally, and frontwards or backwards. Write the remaining letters, in order from

the top left of the puzzle, in the blanks to find the secret message.

appearance craft fashion impress produce

build create form likeness reflection

conceive double generate look representation

concept view drawing idea make twin

construct duplicate illustration originate vision

Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 97, 98.

“‘Consider the lilies.’ Every flower that opens its petals to the sunshine obeys the

same great laws that guide the stars, and how simple and beautiful and how sweet

its life! Through the flowers, God would call our attention to the loveliness of

Christlike character. He who has given such beauty to the blossoms desires far

more that the soul should be clothed with the beauty of the character of Christ.

“Consider, says Jesus, how the lilies grow; how, springing from the cold, dark

earth, or from the mud of the river bed, the plants unfold in loveliness and

fragrance. Who would dream of the possibilities of beauty in the rough brown bulb

of the lily? But when the life of God, hidden therein, unfolds at His call in the rain

and the sunshine, men marvel at the vision of grace and loveliness. Even so will the

life of God unfold in every human soul that will yield itself to the ministry of His

grace, which, free as the rain and the sunshine, comes with its benediction to all. It

is the word of God that creates the flowers, and the same word will produce in you

Tuesday | Today’s Reading

the graces of His Spirit.

“God’s law is the law of love. He has surrounded you with beauty to teach you that

you are not placed on earth merely to delve for self, to dig and build, to toil and

spin, but to make life bright and joyous and beautiful with the love of Christ—like

the flowers, to gladden other lives by the ministry of love.

“Fathers and mothers, let your children learn from the flowers. Take them with you

into garden and field and under the leafy trees, and teach them to read in nature

the message of God’s love. Let the thoughts of Him be linked with bird and flower

and tree. Lead the children to see in every pleasant and beautiful thing an

expression of God’s love for them. Recommend your religion to them by its

pleasantness. Let the law of kindness be in your lips.

“Teach the children that because of God’s great love their natures may be changed

and brought into harmony with His. Teach them that He would have their lives

beautiful with the graces of the flowers. Teach them, as they gather the sweet

blossoms, that He who made the flowers is more beautiful than they. Thus the

tendrils of their hearts will be entwined about Him. He who is ‘altogether lovely’ will

become to them as a daily companion and familiar friend, and their lives will be

transformed into the image of His purity.”

1. Highlight the paragraph that tells why God has surrounded you with beauty.

2. Highlight the paragraph that tells what the children should be taught.

SO WHAT?

Everyone wants to be admired. What a scam Satan has managed to sneak through

the history of humanity! The deceiver has lied to people about their origin, their

purpose, and their value. Listen to what God was thinking when He decided to

create us:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule

over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the

earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’” (Gen.1:26, NIV).

The God of all the universe chose to fashion us after Himself—both men and women

what an honor!

No matter what people look like, how they dress, where they shop, or where they

live, humans all over the globe are precious because the Creator created them to

be like Him.

When we try to become just like some image in a magazine or on TV (whose poster

is on your bedroom wall?), we are trying to become like an imperfect copy. If we

look to the perfect example, we will each be different, but clearly like the original.

How do we do this? In Philippians 4:8, 9, Paul tells us to focus on things worthy of

our attention. As we do this we become shaped and crafted into Jesus’ perfect

image.

The Bible verses in the following cryptograms tell us what God thinks about image,

what being “created” means, and how He can shape us into Jesus’ image. Decode

the message by finding each substitute letter or symbol.

Job 31:13-15 (TLB)

Colossians 3:10, 11 (NKJV)

Wednesday | Today’s Reading

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

In Heavenly Places, p. 173

“Men may aspire to renown. They may desire to possess a great name. With some

the possession of houses and lands and plenty of money, that which will make

them great according to the measure of the world, is the height of their ambition.

They desire to reach the place where they can look down with a sense of superiority

upon those who are poor. All such are building on the sand, and their house will fall

suddenly. Superiority of position is not true greatness. That which does not

increase the value of the soul is of no real value in itself. That which alone is worth

obtaining is greatness of soul in the sight of Heaven. The true and exalted nature of

your work you may never know. The value of your own being you can only measure

by the value of that Life given to save all who will receive it.

“Every man will have some estimate of his own worth when he becomes a laborer

together with Christ, doing the work that Christ did, filling the world with Christ’s

righteousness, bearing a commission from the Most High. . . . The commission

given to the disciples is given to all who are connected with Christ. They are to

make any and every sacrifice for the joy of seeing souls saved who are perishing

out of Christ. . . .

“The highest honor that can be conferred upon human beings, be they young or

old, rich or poor, is to be permitted to lift up the oppressed, to comfort the feeble-

minded. The world is full of suffering. Go, and preach the gospel to the poor; heal

the sick. This is the work to be connected with the gospel message. ‘The poor have

the gospel preached to them’ (Matt. 11:5). Colaborers with God are to fill the space

they occupy in the world with the love of Jesus. . . . The love of Christ in the heart

is expressed in the actions. If love for Christ is dull the love for those for whom

Christ died will degenerate. . . .

“True riches are genuine faith and genuine love. These make the character

Thursday | Today’s Reading

complete in Christ. If there were more faith, simple, trusting faith in Jesus, there

would be love, pure love, which is the gold of Christian character.”

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?

Do you ever wonder if anyone notices you? Family and friends are supposed to. But

beyond the immediate circle of your human relationships, do you really matter?

Have you ever wondered this before? Some say that you are just an animal, or a

product of chance, and grew out of events of change and evolution. And what’s

more, some think that people are only valuable if they are rich, attractive, or

powerful. If you’ve ever had similar thoughts, you need to listen to another voice.

This voice spoke long ago before the world began, saying:

• “I know exactly how I want you to be born” (see Ps. 139:13-16).

• “I know what color hair you will have and exactly how many hairs you will

need” (see Luke 12:7).

• “I’ve made you to look, act, think, and be like Me” (see Gen. 5:1, 2).

• “And, even though sin has made its mark on this world, it cannot erase your

potential to become even more like Me” (see Col. 3:10, 11).

• “If you should wonder what that might be like, just look at My Son” (see

John 14:9, 10).

• “So rest in the knowledge that I made you and I will be taking you home

with Me soon, so go and do the work I created you to do” (see Eph. 2:10).

These words were given to remind you of who you are and what you are destined

to become. God celebrates His creative work in you and will celebrate your beauty,

goodness and value throughout the ages. You are, after all, “a chip off the old

block.”

1. What makes you valuable?

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2. What does God know about you?

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3. Who besides your family notices you?

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4. What’s the big deal about God noticing us?

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Steps to Christ, p. 9

“Nature and revelation alike testify of God’s love. Our Father in heaven is the

source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of

nature. Think of their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only of

man, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh

the earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator’s love. It is

God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures. In the beautiful words of the

psalmist—

“‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee;

And Thou givest them their meat in due season.

Thou openest Thine hand,

And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.’ Psalm 145:15, 16.”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

One of the ways you can begin is to feed your mind with the wonders of God’s love

and purpose for you. Begin to record your thoughts here. Write out what you think

God really likes about you. Think of qualities He has gifted you with. Think of

experiences He has enabled you to have that will make you helpful to someone

else. Think of the things you love and hope for in your relationship with Him. (By

the way, to deny that you have value or gifts or anything that is “likable” is to deny

the very existence of God! Be careful.)

WHAT GOD LIKES ABOUT ME

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GIFTS FROM GOD

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Friday | Today’s Reading

EXPERIENCES GOD HAS GIVEN ME

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HOW I WANT TO RELATE TO HIM

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Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984,

2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas

Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers,

Wheaton, Ill. Used by permission.