Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13.
The standard of character which Christ has made it possible for us to reach ... is a perfect standard. In trying to measure [up to] it, the senses become confused. The question is asked, “Who by searching can find out God?” (See Job 11:7.) Yet He has made it possible for us to become like Him in character. Oh, what will impress men and women with their need of that transformation which will enable them to reflect the divine image?
Many who claim to follow Christ present to the world an inferior representation of Christianity because they do not reach the standard which makes them the elect of God. He who fails to keep constantly before him the standard of God's holy law creates a standard of his own. He becomes destitute of the life-giving principles of the gospel. He is an unprofitable servant, for he lives and works on a low plane of action. Christ's presence does not sustain him, and his spiritual representations are deformed. His life is a farce. He does not draw the higher life from God, and is unfitted to become a member of the royal family, a child of the heavenly King. Spiritually he is dead, for he does not assimilate into his own life the life which Christ has provided. He does not grasp the power which heaven has provided to enable him to be an overcomer.
No one can take to heaven his natural and cultivated traits of character. He who has carried these traits with him through his period of probation has misrepresented Christ by acting upon principles which God cannot endorse. The principles of true spiritual life are not understood by those who know the truth, but fail to practice it.
The Lord calls for reforms, marked, distinct reforms. Those in whose hearts Christ dwells will reveal His presence in their dealing with their fellow men. But the principles of some have been so long perverted that they have lost their discernment, and the arrow seldom reaches its mark. How can this be cured? Only by heeding Christ's prayer, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:17-19). There is no roundabout way in which the work of sanctification can take place.—Manuscript 16, February 25, 1901, “Testimony to the Battle Creek Church.”
From The Upward Look - Page 70
The Upward Look