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By Beholding We Become Changed, August 25
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God.
1 John 3:1
.
Through the merits of Christ, through His righteousness, which by faith is
imputed unto us, we are to attain to the perfection of Christian character. Our daily
and hourly work is set forth in the words of the apostle: “Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith.” While doing this our minds become clearer and our
faith stronger, and our hope is confirmed; we are so engrossed with the view of His
purity and loveliness, and the sacrifice He has made to bring us into agreement with
God, that we have no disposition to speak of doubts and discouragements.
The manifestation of God’s love, His mercy and His goodness, and the work
of the Holy Spirit upon the heart to enlighten and renew it, place us, through faith,
in so close connection with Christ that, having a clear conception of His character,
we are able to discern the masterly deceptions of Satan. Looking unto Jesus and
trusting in His merits we appropriate the blessings of light, of peace, of joy in the
Holy Ghost. And in view of the great things which Christ has done for us, we are
ready to exclaim: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God.”
Brethren and sisters, it is by beholding that we become changed. By dwelling
upon the love of God and our Saviour, by contemplating the perfection of the divine
character and claiming the righteousness of Christ as ours by faith, we are to be
transformed into the same image. Then let us not gather together all the unpleasant
pictures—the iniquities and corruptions and disappointments, the evidences of
Satan’s power—to hang in the halls of our memory....
There are, thank God, brighter and more cheering pictures which the Lord has
presented to us. Let us group together the blessed assurances of His love as precious
treasures, that we may look upon them continually. The Son of God leaving His
Father’s throne, clothing His divinity with humanity, that He might rescue man from
the power of Satan; His triumph in our behalf, opening heaven to man, revealing to
human vision the presence chamber where Deity unveils His glory; the fallen race
uplifted from the pit of ruin into which sin had plunged them, and brought again
into connection with the infinite God, and, having endured the divine test through
faith in our Redeemer, clothed in the righteousness of Christ and exalted to His
throne—these are the pictures with which God bids us gladden the chambers of the
soul.
And “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen,” we shall prove it true that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (
2 Corinthians 4:17,
18
) (
Testimonies for the Church 5:744, 745
).
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