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.
1 John 2:15
"Said the angel: "Prepare, prepare, for what is coming upon the earth. Let your works correspond with your faith."
I saw that the mind must be stayed upon God, and that our influence should tell for God and His
truth. We cannot honor the Lord when we are careless and indifferent. We cannot glorify Him when we are desponding.
*We must be in earnest to secure our own soul's salvation,
*and to save others.
All importance should be attached to this, and everything besides should come in secondary.
I saw that all heaven is interested in our salvation; and shall we be indifferent?
Shall we be careless, as though it were a small matter whether we are saved or lost?
I have seen an angel standing with scales in his hands weighing the thoughts and interest of the people of God, especially the young.
*In one scale were the thoughts and interest tending heavenward;
*in the other were the thoughts and interest tending to earth.
And in this scale were thrown all the reading of storybooks, thoughts of dress and show, vanity, pride, etc.
Oh, what a solemn moment! the angels of God standing with scales, weighing the thoughts of His professed children--those who claim to be dead to the world and alive to God.
--The scale filled with thoughts of earth, vanity, and pride quickly went down, notwithstanding weight after weight rolled from the scale.
--The one with the thoughts and interest tending to heaven went quickly up as the other went down, and oh, how light it was!
I can relate this as I saw it; but never can I give the solemn and vivid impression stamped upon my mind, as I saw the angel with the scales weighing the thoughts and interest of the people of God. Said the angel: "Can such enter heaven? No, no, never."
Testimonies for the Church vol.1, p.123-125 E.G.W.