Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. John 14:8, 9.
We cannot by searching find out God. But He has revealed Himself in the character of Christ, who is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. If we desire a knowledge of God, we must be Christlike....
He who does not seek each day to be more like Christ, cannot know the character of God. Living a pure life through faith in Christ as a personal Saviour brings the believer into a clearer, higher conception of God. No man whose character is not noble and Christlike can set forth God in a correct light. He may preach Christ, but he does not show his hearers that Christ is an abiding guest in his heart....
Those who are partakers of Christ's love through a reception of the truth will give evidence of this by making earnest, self-sacrificing efforts to give the message of God's love to those who are in error. Thus they become laborers together with Christ. Love for God and for one another unites the soul to Christ by the golden links of love. The soul is bound up with Him in sanctified, elevated union.
True sanctification unites believers to Christ and to one another in the bonds of tender sympathy. This union causes to flow continually into the heart rich currents of Christlike love, which flows forth again in love for one another.
The qualities which it is essential for all to possess are those which marked the completeness of Christ's character—His love, His patience, His unselfishness, and His goodness....
It is the greatest and most fatal deception to suppose that a man can have faith unto life eternal, without possessing Christlike love for his brethren. He who loves God and his neighbor is filled with light and love. God is in him and all around him. Christians love those around them as precious souls for whom Christ has died. There is no such thing as a loveless Christian, for “God is love.”—Manuscript 133, September 20, 1899, “The Importance of the Law of God.”
From This Day With God - Page 272
This Day With God