The Glory of God

[Sean James]

What happened after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to the disciples, speaking, "Peace be unto you," gives us direction as to our ministry as well!

The disciples began to realize the nature and extent of their work. They were to proclaim to the world the wonderful truths which Christ had entrusted to them. The events of His life, His death and resurrection, the prophecies that pointed to these events, the sacredness of the law of God, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, the power of Jesus for the remission of sins,--to all these things they were witnesses, and they were to make them known to the world. They were to proclaim the gospel of peace and salvation through repentance and the power of the Saviour.   

As we uplift the crucified, risen, and soon-coming Jesus in His infinite loveliness, we may rejoice that by a full heart surrender He will abide in us and fill us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we go forward in courage, affectionately obedient to all His commandments!

[Sean James]

What does God have planned for you? Seek to follow Jesus step by step by beholding the loveliness of His selfless character, so that in surrendering your whole heart to Christ and allowing all of the fruits of the Spirit to be manifest in your life without one missing, you may be transformed in character and reflect Jesus without manifesting one of the works of the flesh. We can learn to let Jesus teach us our duty rather than being so concerned about what God has planned for others.

How many today are like Peter! They are interested in the affairs of others, and anxious to know their duty, while they are in danger of neglecting their own. It is our work to look to Christ and follow Him. We shall see mistakes in the lives of others, and defects in their character. Humanity is encompassed with infirmity. But in Christ we shall find perfection. Beholding Him, we shall become transformed.

What joy it is to become like Christ in mind and character, as He seeks to lead us into the path with the most unalloyed happiness both now and evermore! Let us choose to look away from the weakness of fallen humanity and behold what divinity and humanity combined can do as is perfectly exemplified in the life of Jesus, our Savior who died for us at Calvary and is even now interceding in heaven as our High Priest to blot out the record of our confessed sins that have been turned from in true repentance, so we may be with Him forever in peace following His eternal plan as part of the family more intimately joined to the Godhead than even angels who have never fallen! Praise the Lord!!   

[Sean James]

We are to preach the gospel by living the gospel, and Jesus, the embodiment of the gospel, is wiling to live out His life in us as we surrender the whole heart to Him and let the Holy Spirit manifest through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing while simultaneously keeping us from manifesting one of the works of the flesh! Grace has power to transform sinners into saints and to keep the repentant soul from falling!

The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. God desires that the receivers of His grace shall be witnesses to its power. Those whose course has been most offensive to Him He freely accepts; when they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit, places them in the highest positions of trust, and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His boundless mercy. He would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that through His grace men may possess Christlikeness of character, and may rejoice in the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He cannot be satisfied until the human race are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters.   

God has great plans for us--and we can scarcely begin to realize what eternity will have for us, so now is the time to share the good news with as many as possible, and with as much enthusiasm and perseverance as possible, for the value of the soul is infinite in light of Christ's sacrifice at Calvary!

[Sean James]

Try to imagine what it was like when Jesus went to heaven after ascending from the earth, taking those who were also resurrected with Him at the time He rose from the dead. Contemplate the glorious victory and realize that this victory was wrought for you and me--to live a life of constant victory over sin by the power of the Holy Spirit!!

The voice of God is heard proclaiming that justice is satisfied. Satan is vanquished. Christ's toiling, struggling ones on earth are "accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. Before the heavenly angels and the representatives of unfallen worlds, they are declared justified. Where He is, there His church shall be. "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Psalm 85:10. The Father's arms encircle His Son, and the word is given, "Let all the angels of God worship Him." Hebrews 1:6. 

When we realize what is being offered to us and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus' infinite loveliness of character, He empowers us to go forward in a full-heart surrender by grace through faith that works by love and purifies the soul, so all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! Hold on by grace through faith to Jesus, for His grace has power to transform sinners into saints and to keep us from falling! Though the struggles we face in this life are many, because of the incarnation of Christ and the plan of redemption, we have the privilege of getting to be sealed for eternity, and forever with Christ who gave all for us! Let us look to Jesus in His loveliness and yield the whole heart to Him in true repentance so His blood may blot out our sins and all of the fruits of the Spirit may be seen in our lives without one missing!

The work of redemption will be complete. In the place where sin abounded, God's grace much more abounds. The earth itself, the very field that Satan claims as his, is to be not only ransomed but exalted. Our little world, under the curse of sin the one dark blot in His glorious creation, will be honored above all other worlds in the universe of God. Here, where the Son of God tabernacled in humanity; where the King of glory lived and suffered and died,--here, when He shall make all things new, the tabernacle of God shall be with men, "and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." And through endless ages as the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord, they will praise Him for His unspeakable Gift,--

                  Immanuel, "God with us."

Let God be with you this entire day, moment-by-moment, to lead you in the path of holiness and faithfulness, and by beholding Christ to become changed into His image more fully each day!

[Sean James]

Will we choose to be true to God? If our eyes are kept fixed upon the loveliness of Jesus and we remember how God has led us in our past history and His teaching, we have nothing to fear for the future. Let us not forget what God has done for us, and let us realize that we need Jesus abiding in the heart by an affectionate surrender of the will to Him which encompasses the whole heart and mind, thus supernaturally producing in the soul all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing which is in harmony with God's law of love! When God's love fills the soul, we do not ask for the lowest standard, but seek to walk in faithfulness to the glory and honor of God. 

Had Israel been true to God, He could have accomplished His purpose through their honor and exaltation. If they had walked in the ways of obedience, He would have made them "high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor." "All people of the earth," said Moses, "shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee." "The nations which shall hear all these statutes" shall say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deuteronomy 26:19;  28:10; Deuteronomy 4:6. But because of their unfaithfulness, God's purpose could be wrought out only through continued adversity and humiliation. 

As you choose to surrender to God, remember that no matter how far you have fallen, if you truly repent, confess your sins, and look in simple faith to Jesus as the foot of the cross, Jesus will restore you to His image and complete His plan to sanctify you into His image. The Israelites chose "the hard way" and many of them apostatized from the true faith that acknowledged a continual need of God's grace, but we can choose the yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:28-30) and let Him lead us in the path of revival and reformation by receiving the message to the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14-22). As we thus apply this counsel by spending a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ, letting each point be imagined and contemplated (especially the closing scenes), Jesus clothes us with His white raiment of righteousness, eye salve of spiritual discernment of our continual need of Him to do any good thing, and gold tried in the fire composed of faith working by love to purify the soul! What a privilege it is to be a witness of Christ!

[Sean James]

It was true then, and it is true now. When Jesus first came to the earth, Satan was doing everything possible to try to destroy God's image in humanity. In these closing moments before Christ returns the second time in power and great glory, Satan is again setting in operation every agency to destroy souls. But God is more powerful than Satan, and we can abide in Jesus as we behold Him in His infinite loveliness, yield fully to Him and let Him fill us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing. Christ is able to fully restore His image in us and bring our lives into harmony with His law of love. We need to realize our continual need of Jesus to do any good thing and to rely completely upon His promises in every experience of life.

Satan was exulting that he had succeeded in debasing the image of God in humanity. Then Jesus came to restore in man the image of his Maker. None but Christ can fashion anew the character that has been ruined by sin. He came to expel the demons that had controlled the will. He came to lift us up from the dust, to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character, and to make it beautiful with His own glory. "But 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).

When our will is swallowed up in the will of God, we find true happiness to be the result of holiness. Look to Jesus and let Him shape you after the pattern of His character. God is faithful to finish what He started in your life!

[Sean James]

The story of Bethlehem is an exhaustless theme. In it is hidden "the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Romans 11:33. We marvel at the Saviour's sacrifice in exchanging the throne of heaven for the manger, and the companionship of adoring angels for the beasts of the stall. Human pride and self-sufficiency stand rebuked in His presence. Yet this was but the beginning of His wonderful condescension. It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.

Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and realize the sacrifice He made for us--as well as the depth of the Father's sacrifice in sending His Son to be our Savior! "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" (John 3:16). Let us yield fully to the power of God's grace and let it make us eternally grateful for all He has done for us and will do in us as we surrender all to Him, thus becoming partakers of the divine nature so that Christ by the Holy Spirit can manifest through us all of the fruits of the Sprit without one missing!

[Sean James]

Where is the greatest happiness to be found in this life and in the life to come? It is found in knowing and loving God! All God's invitations are really for our best good, and we can trust Him to lead us continually! "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-39). When Jesus was dedicated by His parents, Simeon prophesied of what would take place, and we can be thankful that God offered His Son to implant the love He calls us to render back to Him! Only by love is love awakened!

"That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." In the light of the Saviour's life, the hearts of all, even from the Creator to the prince of darkness, are revealed. Satan has represented God as selfish and oppressive, as claiming all, and giving nothing, as requiring the service of His creatures for His own glory, and making no sacrifice for their good. But the gift of Christ reveals the Father's heart. It testifies that the thoughts of God toward us are "thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11. It declares that while God's hatred of sin is as strong as death, His love for the sinner is stronger than death. Having undertaken our redemption, He will spare nothing, however dear, which is necessary to the completion of His work. No truth essential to our salvation is withheld, no miracle of mercy is neglected, no divine agency is left unemployed. Favor is heaped upon favor, gift upon gift. The whole treasury of heaven is open to those He seeks to save. Having collected the riches of the universe, and laid open the resources of infinite power, He gives them all into the hands of Christ, and says, All these are for man. Use these gifts to convince him that there is no love greater than Mine in earth or heaven. His greatest happiness will be found in loving Me. 

Let us behold the loveliness of Jesus, believe fully upon Him, yield continually our whole heart to Him, and let Him cleanse us from all sin by His atoning blood as we humbly confess to Him our sins in true repentance. Then as the Holy Spirit renews our souls, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives, and we can be a blessing to others for Christ as we walk in willing obedience to God's law of love!

[Sean James]

Praise the Lord that today we can choose to act in humble faith and surrender fully to Christ, appreciating the example of the wise men who came to worship Jesus!

"When they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshiped Him." Beneath the lowly guise of Jesus, they recognized the presence of Divinity. They gave their hearts to Him as their Saviour, and then poured out their gifts,--"gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." What a faith was theirs! It might have been said of the wise men from the East, as afterward of the Roman centurion, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Matthew 8:10.

Great faith is complete surrender to Christ in worship which brings us into possession of the traits of His divine nature--love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance! Not one of these traits of His divine nature will be missing when a complete surrender of the whole heart is made to Christ and we gladly follow where He leads us in obedience to His Ten Commandments, the declaration of dependence upon God for freedom from sin!

[Sean James]

Why did Jesus receive grace in His earthly life?

Throughout His life on earth, Jesus was an earnest and constant worker. He expected much; therefore He attempted much. After He had entered on His ministry, He said, "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. Jesus did not shirk care and responsibility, as do many who profess to be His followers. It is because they seek to evade this discipline that so many are weak and inefficient. They may possess precious and amiable traits, but they are nerveless and almost useless when difficulties are to be met or obstacles surmounted. The positiveness and energy, the solidity and strength of character, manifested in Christ are to be developed in us, through the same discipline that He endured. And the grace that He received is for us.

Jesus received grace to give to us. We are never called to "go it alone" without Jesus first living the life He calls us to live and then by His grace empowers us to be able to experience! When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives--not one will be missing! That grace to have that kind of converted character experience in true obedience to the Ten Commandments is only possible through Christ!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! If we had to simplify why it is we need to behold Jesus every day, it can be said so beautifully in this this way:

It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross. 
     As we associate together, we may be a blessing to one another. If we are Christ's, our sweetest thoughts will be of Him. We shall love to talk of Him; and as we speak to one another of His love, our hearts will be softened by divine influences. Beholding the beauty of His character, we shall be "changed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Corinthians 3:18.

As we behold Jesus and surrender FULLY to Him, He renews our hearts and minds and fills us with all of the fruits of the Spirit--so not one will be missing as we gladly obey God's law of love! Let us keep our eyes on Jesus today and invite others to do the same!

[Sean James]

He was the kind of Friend that wouldn't tell others your struggles and was always willing to listen. He encouraged others to be all God could make them as He Himself fulfilled the design of His life. Jesus, the lowly Savior, was fulfilling His heaven-ordained mission even in His youth and invites us all, at every season of life, to be in the center of God's will by beholding His true character in its infinite purity and loveliness, yielding the whole heart to Him, and letting all of the fruits of the Spirit be manifest in the life without one missing in true, affectionate obedience to the Ten Commandments--the definition of selfless, relational love!

He taught all to look upon themselves as endowed with precious talents, which if rightly employed would secure for them eternal riches. He weeded all vanity from life, and by His own example taught that every moment of time is fraught with eternal results; that it is to be cherished as a treasure, and to be employed for holy purposes. He passed by no human being as worthless, but sought to apply the saving remedy to every soul. In whatever company He found Himself, He presented a lesson that was appropriate to the time and the circumstances. He sought to inspire with hope the most rough and unpromising, setting before them the assurance that they might become blameless and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them manifest as the children of God. Often He met those who had drifted under Satan's control, and who had no power to break from his snare. To such a one, discouraged, sick, tempted, and fallen, Jesus would speak words of tenderest pity, words that were needed and could be understood. Others He met who were fighting a hand-to-hand battle with the adversary of souls. These He encouraged to persevere, assuring them that they would win; for angels of God were on their side, and would give them the victory. Those whom He thus helped were convinced that here was One in whom they could trust with perfect confidence. He would not betray the secrets they poured into His sympathizing ear.   

When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we can allow Him to manifest through us the same beauty of character. May the experience of abiding in Jesus be a constant one for you today, for we need Jesus continually to do any good thing!

[Sean James]

How does God wake up a sleeping people? Think of the prospect before John the Baptist:

He saw his people deceived, self-satisfied, and asleep in their sins. He longed to rouse them to a holier life. The message that God had given him to bear was designed to startle them from their lethargy, and cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness. Before the seed of the gospel could find lodgment, the soil of the heart must be broken up. Before they would seek healing from Jesus, they must be awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin.

If we do not feel the need, how can God heal? When Jesus is lifted up at Calvary in our lives and characters, we point others to the only One who can cause us to see that we have caused Him such pain, and need to turn to Him wholeheartedly! Oh, that the clear realization of our sinfulness may cause us to feel our deep, continual need of Jesus so that He can live out His life in us! Then, in true conversion that is the result of an entire surrender to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we are wide awake to abide in Christ and bless others who need to see their need and then flee to Christ for the healing that He alone can give! John the Baptist is a type of God's people alive on earth today to point people to "behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

[Sean James]

What a joy it is to behold Christ who was baptized as our Savior and Example, and remember how He give us a promise of victory as we look to Him in humble faith!

 And the word that was spoken to Jesus at the Jordan, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," embraces humanity. God spoke to Jesus as our representative. With all our sins and weaknesses, we are not cast aside as worthless. "He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge of the love of God for us. It tells us of the power of prayer,--how the human voice may reach the ear of God, and our petitions find acceptance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was cut off from heaven, and alienated from its communion; but Jesus has connected it again with the sphere of glory. His love has encircled man, and reached the highest heaven. The light which fell from the open portals upon the head of our Saviour will fall upon us as we pray for help to resist temptation. The voice which spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul, This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.

Let us look and live, and truly believe that God loves us and has plans to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him! We may surrender the whole heart to Christ and then have all of the fruits of the Spirit in the life without one missing, obedient to all the light that God sends upon us from His Ten Commandment law of love because of His divine grace having power to transform sinners into saints and to keep us from falling!