You have been ready to give of your means, but have withheld yourself. You have not felt called upon to make sacrifices which would involve care; you have not had a willingness to do any work for Christ, be it ever so humble. God will bring you over the ground again and again until with humble heart and subdued mind you bear the test that He inflicts and are wholly sanctified to His service and work. Then you may win immortal life. You may be a fully developed man in Christ Jesus, or you may be a spiritual dwarf, gaining no victories. My brother, which will you choose? Will you live a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice, doing your work with cheerfulness and joy, perfecting Christian character, and pressing on for the immortal reward? or will you live for yourself and lose heaven? God will not be trifled with; Christ accepts no divided service. He asks for all. It will not do to withhold anything. He has purchased you with an infinite price, and He requires that all you have shall b…
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
The EGW passage emphasizes self-sacrifice and offering oneself fully to God, which is the core principle of Romans 12:1, urging believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice.
My brother, you are in positive danger through neglecting to carry out health reform more strictly in your own life and in your family. Your blood is impure, and you are still corrupting and inflaming it by the gratification of taste. Never be betrayed into indulging in the use of stimulants; for this will result not only in reaction and loss of physical strength, but in a benumbed intellect. Strictly temperate habits in eating and drinking, with firm trust in God, will improve your physical, mental, and moral health. You are of a highly excitable temperament. You have but little self-control and under excitement frequently say and do things which you afterward regret. You should call a determined will to your aid in the warfare against your own inclinations and propensities. You need to keep the avenues of your soul open to the reception of light and truth. But when something occurs to test and prove you, prejudice frequently comes in, and you rise at once against what you deem a rest…
"And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible."
Both passages emphasize the importance of temperance and self-control. 1 Corinthians 9:25 speaks of athletes being temperate to win a crown, while EGW discusses temperance in eating and drinking for physical, mental, and moral health. The underlying theme of self-discipline is present in both.