Chapter 222—Perfection Now?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect.
Matthew 5:48
.
When God gave His Son to the world, He made it possible for men and
women to be perfect by the use of every capability of their beings to the glory
of God. In Christ He gave to them the riches of His grace, and a knowledge
of His will. As they would empty themselves of self, and learn to walk in
humility, leaning on God for guidance, men would be enabled to fulfill God’s
high purpose for them.
Perfection of character is based upon that which Christ is to us. If we
have constant dependence on the merits of our Saviour, and walk in His
footsteps, we shall be like Him, pure and undefiled.
Our Saviour does not require impossibilities of any soul. He expects
nothing of His disciples that He is not willing to give them grace and strength
to perform. He would not call upon them to be perfect if He had not at His
command every perfection of grace to bestow on the ones upon whom He
would confer so high and holy a privilege....
Our work is to strive to attain in our sphere of action the perfection that
Christ in His life on the earth attained in every phase of character. He is our
example. In all things we are to strive to honor God in character.... We are to
be wholly dependent on the power that He has promised to give us.
Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may
not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His
followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.
Our Saviour is a Saviour for the perfection of the whole man. He is not the
God of part of the being only. The grace of Christ works to the disciplining
of the whole human fabric. He made all. He has redeemed all. He has made
the mind, the strength, the body as well as the soul, partaker of the divine
nature, and all is His purchased possession. He must be served with the
whole mind, heart, soul, and strength. Then the Lord will be glorified in His
saints in even the common, temporal things with which they are connected.
“Holiness unto the Lord” will be in the inscription placed upon them.
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