For a good number of years now, we have read a daily devotional as we have retired to bed for the evening. We find it helps the mind to rest on a spiritual theme upon laying our heads on our pillows.
For a good number of years now, we have read a daily devotional as we have retired to bed for the evening. We find it helps the mind to rest on a spiritual theme upon laying our heads on our pillows.
This year's devotional has been God's Amazing Grace, compiled from the writings of Ellen White in 1973. We have enjoyed it very much and would highly recommend it to any troubled mind trying to find rest.
What seems to have developed into a controversial subject is that of whether or not we can obtain perfection of character in our lives. Many conversations have been shared on this topic, and there have been conversations with a bit of contention as well.
Well, the title of the devotional, as already mentioned is God's Amazing Grace. When asked what grace is, the usual answer voiced, is 'unmerited favour.' That is true. Sin demands death, but God extends to the sinner a gift they don't deserve – and that of grace. It is unmerited. Our behaviour is not becoming to a pure and holy God. It is obnoxious to Him, but He extends His grace to cover our sins.
But it doesn't stop there. There is another side to this gift, and that is the power to overcome the habit of the sin committed. Our God doesn't want us to sin, for Him to extend His grace, then we go back to the same sin again. No! He gives us the power to overcome the habit of sinning. It's not our power, but His power working in us. It is the infilling of the Holy Spirit and our part to accept and embrace His presence and leading.
As we choose to accept the wooing and leading of the Holy Spirit, we focus on the victory in Jesus and the more we focus on Him, the more we become like Him. “Looking unto Jesus we obtain brighter and more distinct views of God, and by beholding we become changed. Goodness, love for our fellow men, becomes our natural instinct. We develop a character which is the counterpart of the divine character.” – Christ's Object Lessons, p.355
Leading to Perfection
Firstly, what is perfection? It is living right all the time, every moment of the day – and continuing to live that way. It is really the sanctifying experience in our lives. We learn about the righteousness of God, we are sorry and repent of the sinful life, and accept His counsel and admonition. His grace is then extended to us, we are justified by His grace. But then we wish to maintain that right living, He will then give us the power to live His righteousness and every day we do that it becomes a part of our character. That is really what perfection of character is.
Now let's turn to inspiration to remove the risk of compromise and wresting of the topic.
The most well-known verse in the Bible in all the world, leads into this subject very well. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” — John 3:16,17
When God gave His Son to the world, the gift was given, and the means became available, for every man and woman to attain the standard of perfection. By exercising every talent and using every capability of their beings to the glory of God, we can become like Him.
In Christ, our Father gave to humanity the riches of His grace, and a knowledge of His will. As humanity would empty themselves of self, and learn to walk in humility, leaning on God for guidance, men would be enabled to fulfil 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. But we are not left alone in this battle. Our Saviour does not require impossibilities of any one of us. 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 give to the ones upon whom He would honour with so high and holy a privilege...
Life Work
Our life work is to aim for and strive to attain in our sphere of responsibility the same perfection that Christ attained in His life while here on the earth, in every phase of His character. He is our example. In all things we are to strive to honour Him in character...
We are to be wholly dependent on the power that He has promised to give us, because we cannot attain that standard of character on our own. 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. This is such a powerful thought and one that we would do well to embrace every day of our lives. This is strong proof that perfection of character is absolutely obtainable.
Our Saviour is a Saviour for the perfection of the whole person. 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 made the mind, the strength, the body, as well as the soul. We are partakers of the divine nature, and we are completely His purchased possession in everything. We must give Him our full service 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.
We marvel at the words that Jesus used while here on earth. He had to have wisdom beyond human thinking to answer some of the questions posed to Him the way He did. Spies were sent to catch Jesus at His words on one occasion, and when they returned to the Pharisees, they simply said, “Never man spake like this man.” —John 7:46
I have often wondered how He gave such answers, but concluded He was given them of His Father. But reading in the very same book, God's Amazing Grace, we found this profound statement. “The reason never man spake as this man was that never man lived as He lived. Had His life been other that it was, He could not have spoken as He did. His words bore with them a convincing power, because they came from a heart pure and holy, full of love and sympathy, benevolence and truth.” — God's Amazing Grace, p.276
And so, if we give Him our full service with the whole mind, heart, soul and strength. Then we will be able to live more like Him and find more words like Him.
Changed by Beholding
“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” — 2 Corinthians 3:18
The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous one. Day by day God labours for our sanctification, and it is our responsibility to co-operate with Him, putting forth persevering efforts to cultivate right habits. We are to add grace to grace; and as we work on the plan of addition, God works for us on the plan of multiplication. Our Saviour is always ready to hear and answer the prayer of the contrite heart, and grace and peace are multiplied to His faithful ones. Gladly He grants us the blessings we need in our struggle against the evils that beset us.
John and Judas are representatives of those who profess to be Christ's followers. Both these disciples had the same opportunities to study and follow the divine Pattern. Both were closely associated with Jesus and were privileged to listen to His teaching. Each possessed serious defects of character; and each had access to the divine grace that transforms character. But while one in humility was learning of Jesus, the other revealed that he was not a doer of the Word, but a hearer only. One, daily dying to self and overcoming sin, was sanctified through the truth; the other, resisting the transforming power of grace and indulging selfish desires, was brought into bondage to Satan.
Such transformation of character as is seen in the life of John is the sure result of communion with Christ. There may be marked defects in the character of any one of us, yet when we become a true disciple of Christ, the power of divine grace transforms and sanctifies us. Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed from glory to glory, until we are like Him whom we adore, because we have spent time getting to know our Saviour.
God can be honoured by those who profess to believe in Him, only as they are conformed to His image and controlled by His Spirit. Then, as witnesses for the Saviour, all may make known what divine grace has done for them.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” — 2 Peter 1:4
What beauty of character shone forth in the daily life of Christ! He is to be our pattern. There is a great work to be done in fashioning our character after the divine similitude. The grace of Christ must mold our entire being, and its triumph will not be complete until the heavenly universe shall witness habitual tenderness of feeling, Christlike love, and holy deeds in the deportment in the children of God.
Each one of us must obtain an experience for ourselves. No one can depend for salvation on the experience or practice of any other person. We must each become acquainted with Christ in order properly to represent Him to the world. “His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” —2 Peter 1:3
None of us should excuse our hasty temper, our misshapen characters, our selfishness, our envy, our jealousy, or any impurity of soul, body, or spirit. We must learn of Christ. We must know what He is to those He has ransomed. We must realise that through belief in Him it is our privilege to be partakers of the divine nature, and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Then we are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain one sinful propensity.
Those are very powerful words. If we need not retain one sinful propensity, that means a total eradication of sin in our lives – total!
As we partake of the divine nature, hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are cut away from our character, and we are made a living power for good. Ever learning of the divine Teacher, daily partaking of His nature, we cooperate with God in overcoming Satan's temptations. We do not and cannot sit passively and let the world float by, as if we have nothing to do. The work that Jesus does in us, He justifies us when we give our all to Him, but then we have a work to do as well through the sanctifying process and experience.
God works, and man works, that man may be one with Christ as Christ is one with God. Then we sit together with Christ in heavenly places. The mind rests with peace and assurance in Jesus. In Him there is inexhaustible fullness. God has given us every facility, every grace. He has provided the riches of heaven's treasure, and it is our privilege to draw continually from this capital.
While Probation Lasts
The life we have, especially in the countries where Protestantism has had sway, we take so much for granted. We have the wonderful lives we do, because or fore-fathers fought for it and we ride on the back of those lives of sacrifice. But let us remember that all the good we enjoy comes because of the mercy and grace of God. He is the great and bountiful Giver. It is His love that is manifest to all humanity in the abundant provision He has made for us. It is Him who has given us probationary time in which to form characters for the courts above.
All of us who have a knowledge of the message of salvation, believe without a doubt that Christ is soon coming. This is not a fable to us; it is a reality.... When He comes He is not to cleanse us of our sins, to remove from us the defects in our characters, or to cure us of the infirmities of our tempers and dispositions. If we are gifted with the joy of salvation, the work of total overcoming and perfection character will all be accomplished well before that time.
When the Lord comes, those who are holy will be holy still. Those who have reserved their bodies and spirits in holiness, in sanctification and honour, will then receive the finishing touch of immortality. But those who are unjust, unsanctified, and filthy will remain so forever. No work will then be done for them to remove their defects and give them holy characters. The Refiner does not then sit to pursue His refining process and remove their sins and their corruption. This is all to be done in these hours of probation. Please realise the seriousness of the hours in which we live. It is now that this work of cleansing of sin is to be accomplished in us.
During probationary time in which we now live, the grace of God is offered to every soul. The door of mercy is still open. But if men waste their opportunities in pleasing themselves, they will cut themselves off from everlasting life. No post-probation will be granted to anyone. By their own choice there will be an impassable gulf between them and their God. When that door of mercy shall shut, it will be too late.
Most of us will be very familiar with Matthew 25 in the parable of the ten virgins. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.” —Matthew 25:1-10
Many are deceiving themselves by thinking that the character will be transformed at the coming of Christ, but there will be no conversion of heart at His appearing. No, the door will be shut. Jesus goes on to say in the parable that when the door is shut, those who come to Him, He doesn’t know.
Our defects of character must here be repented of, and through the grace of Christ we must overcome them while probation's door is still open. None of us know when that door shall close. None of us know just how long we have before we close our eyes in death – and that is the close of our probation. But right now, today, this is the place for fitting up for the family above.
Christ’s Example For Us
In closing, let’s take a look at the example of Christ’s character. The Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, became a babe in Bethlehem, and for a time represented the helpless infant in its mother’s care. In childhood He spoke and acted as a child, honouring His parents, and carrying out their wishes in helpful ways. But from the first dawning of intelligence He was constantly growing in grace and in a knowledge of truth.
Parents and teachers should aim so to cultivate the tendencies of the youth that at each stage of life they may represent the beauty appropriate to that period, unfolding naturally, as do the plants in the garden.
As a child Jesus manifested a peculiar loveliness of disposition. His willing hands were ever ready to serve others. He manifested a patience that nothing could disturb, and a truthfulness that would never sacrifice integrity. In principle firm as a rock, His life revealed the grace of unselfish courtesy. Oh that all children would exhibit those attributes, what a different world we would see. “With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!” —Education, p.271
With deep earnestness the mother of Jesus watched the unfolding of His powers, and beheld the impress of perfection upon His character. With delight she sought to encourage that bright, receptive mind. Through the Holy Spirit she received wisdom to co-operate with the heavenly agencies in the development of this child, who could claim only God as His Father...
From her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. The very words which He Himself had spoken to Moses for Israel He was now taught at His mother’s knee.... And spread out before Him was the great library of God’s created works. He who had made all things studied the lessons which His own hand had written in earth and sea and sky...
That is hard for us to comprehend. He actually studied as a child the wonders of nature, of which He had created Himself. He left behind all of His creative power and became as one of us, to be our example of Godliness, heavenly perfection and sinlessness; He left it all behind for us - every on e of us.
Heavenly beings were His attendants, and the culture of holy thoughts and communings was His. From the first dawning of intelligence He was constantly growing in spiritual grace and knowledge of truth. Oh, if only we could be like Him in every way.
But here are some very powerful words for us to comprehend. Every child may gain knowledge as Jesus did. As we try to become acquainted with our heavenly Father through His Word, angels will draw near, our minds will be strengthened, our characters will be elevated and refined. We shall become more like our Saviour.
Probation is almost ended, friends. Get ready! Get ready! “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” —John 9:4
