Heart Work

There is great danger in neglecting heartwork. How urgent it is for us to allow the Holy Spirit to search our motives and speak to our hearts with convicting power. It is only at the cross of Calvary that we can even find the desire for deep heartwork. Without this necessary heartwork, we often feel that we are all right when we are all wrong. We feel no need of transformation. We are Laodicean.

God calls to us: “Let self-love and self-pride be sacrificed. Seek for thorough heartwork. Seek for thorough transformation from the world.” By bowing in humility at the foot of the cross, the Holy Spirit can reach us at the deepest level. Revival is our greatest need, as as we are revived, reformation follows. It is at the cross that this takes place.

• What gives the proper level to the human mind? It is the cross of Calvary. By looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, all the desire for self-glorification is laid in the dust. There comes, as we see aright, a spirit of self-abasement that promotes lowliness and humbleness of mind. As we contemplate the cross, we are enabled to see the wonderful provision it has brought to every believer. God in Christ, . . . if seen aright, will level human exaltation and pride. There will be no self-exaltation, but there will be true humility.-- {1MCP 29.5} 

God wants our pride and vanity to be humbled in the dust.

• Those who are lifted up with pride, whose souls are filled with vanity, should look upon this picture of their Redeemer, [depicted in Isaiah 53] and humble themselves in the dust. {4BC 1147.3} 

• Let us consider what the Lord has done for us. Shall not the love manifested toward us be appreciated, shall it not be permitted to melt our hearts, to humble our pride to the dust? {RH, April 18, 1893 par. 5} 

• Let us kneel before God with humble hearts, and give expression to our reverence for Him. All pride, all pomposity, must be laid in the dust. {16MR 292.4} 

Fashion is rooted in pride, and when we follow fashion, it separates us from God.

• I saw that the ax must be laid at the root of the tree. Such pride should not be suffered in the church. It is these things that separate God from His people, that shut the ark away from them. Israel have been asleep to the pride, and fashion, and conformity to the world, in the very midst of them….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. {1T 136.1}

It is our pride that leads us to follow fashion, seeking admiration from others. When we allow God to root pride out of our hearts, resistance to modesty and plainness of appearance disappears. Until we recognize and repent of our pride, and allow God to change our hearts, we will fight and rebel against dress reform. Pride of appearance is a huge idol that has been exalted to lofty prominence among us as SDA women.

Genuine heartworks leads us to plead for purity of heart and humility of soul. The Holy Spirit empowers us to make a total surrender of self. God puts within our hearts sincere love for others—love that will not allow us to cause others to stumble because of prideful or immodest appearance. As we consecrate ourselves fully to Jesus, He gives us a willingness to suffer for His sake, and courage to bear the cross that cuts against the grain of our natural desires.

If this heartwork is not done first, dress reform can become legalism and fanaticism. Self-righteous dress reformers are deceived into thinking they can gain saving merit for their efforts. Imbalanced fanatics who put feelings above reason, and human opinions over God’s principles do not reflect God’s love, joy and peace, and they make all around them miserable. Fanatics are not surrendered to God, and they are not growing in Christlikeness.

Doing our heartwork every day guards against legalism on one hand, and rebellion on the other. As we seek God for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we receive the spiritual discernment to know God’s will for lives. Through a vital connection with God, we receive transforming power to walk in obedience to His will.

Endeavoring to urge the principles of dress reform on a proud heart, that is given to fashion, is like picking leaves off of a living tree. They just grow right back. That is why the heartwork is so important.

Let us draw near to the cross of Christ, and allow the Lord to humble and subdue our hearts, so that we may hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us.