Text of the meditation
Apart from the earnest striving to live out the teachings of Jesus, there can be no true life. A good person is the flower of humanity, and to grow daily purer, nobler and more Godlike, by overcoming some selfish tendency, is to be continually drawing nearer to the Divine Heart. "Whoever would be My disciple, let them deny themselves daily" is a statement that no one can misunderstand or misapply, however much they may ignore it.
Nowhere in the universe is there any substitute for Goodness; and until a person has this, they have nothing worthy or enduring. To the possession of Goodness there is only one way, and that is to give up all and everything that is opposed to Goodness. Every selfish desire must be eradicated; every impure thought must be yielded up; every clinging to opinion must be sacrificed; and it is in doing this that the following of Christ consists.
What is above all creeds, beliefs and opinions is a loving and self-sacrificing heart.
James Allen (1864–1912), Book of Meditations for Every Day in the Year (1913) – public-domain text, gently modernised.
The original 1913 text is in the public domain.
