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The Image of the Divine to Shine Through, January 10
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
.
The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. As the Son of man was
perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life. Jesus was in all
things made like unto His brethren. He became flesh, even as we are. He was
hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep.
He shared the lot of man; yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was God in
the flesh. His character is to be ours....
Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the
topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. If
that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been
lost. But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, that
we through taking His nature might overcome. Made “in the likeness of sinful
flesh” (
Romans 8:3
), He lived a sinless life. Now by His divinity He lays hold
upon the throne of heaven, while by His humanity He reaches us. He bids us by
faith in Him attain to the glory of the character of God. Therefore are we to be
perfect, even as our “Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Jesus had shown in what righteousness consists, and had pointed to God as its
source. Now He turned to practical duties. In almsgiving, in prayer, in fasting, He
said, let nothing be done to attract attention or win praise to self. Give in sincerity,
for the benefit of the suffering poor. In prayer, let the soul commune with God. In
fasting, go not with the head bowed down, and heart filled with thoughts of self....
It is he who yields himself most unreservedly to God that will render Him the
most acceptable service. For through fellowship with God men become workers
together with Him in presenting His character in humanity.
The service rendered in sincerity of heart has great recompense. “Thy Father
which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” By the life we live through
the grace of Christ the character is formed. The original loveliness begins to be
restored to the soul. The attributes of the character of Christ are imparted, and the
image of the Divine begins to shine forth. The faces of men and women who walk
and work with God express the peace of heaven. They are surrounded with the
atmosphere of heaven. For these souls the kingdom of God has begun. They have
Christ’s joy, the joy of being a blessing to humanity. They have the honor of being
accepted for the Master’s use; they are trusted to do His work in His name.—
The
Desire of Ages, 311-312
.
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