Daily Devotional -- Our Daily Bread | Beholding The Perfection of Christ | 3/8/24 | Hilari Henriques

Would you become assimilated to the divine image? Would you be one who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Would you drink of the water which Christ shall give you, which shall be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life? Would you bear fruit to the glory of God? Would you refresh others? Then with heart hungering for the bread of life, the word of God, search the Scriptures, and live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Your soul's sanctification and righteousness will result from faith in the word of God, which leads to obedience of its commands. Let the word of God be to you as the voice of God instructing you, and saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it." Christ prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth."
Christ found himself in fashion as a man, that he might represent to man in human life and character that which was expressed in his holy word. He was one with the Father; his life corresponded with the life of God, and his character was like unto that which was represented in the standard of righteousness, the ten moral precepts. Righteousness is living the law of God as Christ lived it; it is the health, the activity of every spiritual energy in the service of God. It is the uplifting of the soul to God in prayer, the turning of the soul to God, even as the flower turns to the light. There is health and heaven for the soul in abiding under the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness; for thus shall we be uplifted from the low, dark cares of the earth, which bring depression and gloom, to dwell in the light that is above and beyond them. Righteousness is the possession of increasing usefulness. It is the hiding of the soul in Christ with God. It is experiencing fellowship with God. It is exemplifying to the world the fact that God has vindicated his word to the world, and has fulfilled his promise in saying, "We will come and make our abode with him." Righteousness prepares the human agent for the mansions which Christ has gone to prepare for those who love him.
It is the opposite of righteousness, the transgression of the law of God, to seek so earnestly and persistently for temporal advantages as to exclude things of eternal interest. How languid, how feeble are the efforts of the professed people of God to attain unto the likeness of Christ in character! How few seem to realize that life eternal depends upon our course of action in probationary time! But those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will purify their souls through obeying the truth. It is by beholding that we become changed into the likeness of Christ. By looking unto Jesus, by talking with Jesus, by fashioning the life after Christ's example, we become meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, for our taste is perfected for the purity of heaven.
Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness become fitted for ministering upon the earth. We have no need for those who are weak and unchristlike in character. We are to look unto Jesus and live. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." By beholding the perfection of Christ, hunger and thirst for righteousness are to be created in the heart. The Lord alone can give us the bread and water of life, that we may be filled. This fullness is the glory which Christ declares he has given to his disciples,--the character which is to fashion them after the divine similitude. Those who experience soul hunger are to be blessed with satisfaction. Their earnest, prayerful struggles will not be in vain; for there is no failure with God. For all our imperfections there is forgiveness with God. We are to believe that a rich satisfaction awaits us. He who is truth says that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. It is for us to comply with the condition upon which the promise is to be fulfilled. We are to come to God with a contrite spirit, and as soon as we seek him in earnest he will fill us.
Christ is standing at the door, knocking, and inviting us to accept his presence. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." With Christ abiding in the soul, the human agent becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and is a coworker with Jesus Christ. He manifests ardor and earnestness, and possesses that perseverance, so that, like his Master, he will not fail nor be discouraged. Let all turn away from the heart cravings for selfish gratification; let all empty the soul of self-love, selfish desires and ambitions, and Christ will supply the vacuum; he will reign in the heart that is emptied of self, and from his divine presence will flow forth living streams to revive and refresh the souls of those who are ready to perish. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

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