Reflecting Christ's Character

[dedication]

What does it mean to reflect Christ's character?

EGW:
"If any one has been laboring for anything else except the Lord's glory, he will be disappointed in receiving a reward. The reception of the penny by the laborers represents the character that God will give to those who follow him. We are to keep in view eternal realities, and our spiritual eyesight must be clear; for those only who behold Christ will be changed into his image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. All who are teachable, all who are humble, all who serve from love, are as mirrors that are being polished to reflect more perfectly the divine image. Their souls are becoming purified, their ideas are becoming broader, and their characters are being transformed after the divine similitude. But those whose hearts are lifted up in pride, who are self-righteous, full of envy, jealousy, and evil surmising, are enfeebling their capacity for receiving from God that which will make them what he would have them to be. They are clouding the mirror, darkening the vision, marring the vessel, so that it contains less and less of God's blessing.  {RH, July 10, 1894 par. 7}

[dedication]

Looking at the quote more

Motive--  the Lord's glory
Method-- behold Christ
............--follow Christ
............--by the Spirit

our attitude--teachable
...............--humble
...............--serve with love

characteristic -- purity

what needs to go --  self-righteousness, envy, jealousy, and evil surmising,

[dedication]

More interesting quote:

At times, in contemplating heavenly things, my heart has been filled with a rapturous joy and love that is very precious, but that no words can describe. I love Jesus, I love his law; I want to be like Jesus, that I may reflect his image perfectly. I want to lie low at the foot of the cross, that I may be nothing, and Christ may be all in all.  {RH, April 29, 1884 par. 1} 

"Human nature is depraved, and is justly condemned by a holy God. But provision is made for the repenting sinner, so that by faith in the atonement of the only begotten Son of God, he may receive forgiveness of sin, find justification, receive adoption into the heavenly family, and become an inheritor of the kingdom of God. Transformation of character is wrought through the operation of the Holy Spirit, which works upon the human agent, implanting in him, according to his desire and consent to have it done, a new nature. The image of God is restored to the soul, and day by day he is strengthened and renewed by grace, and is enabled more and more perfectly to reflect the character of Christ in righteousness and true holiness.  {RH, September 17, 1895 par. 7} 

[Ed Sutton]

... for the repenting sinner......  but while it is not necessarily crucifying to admit to being a sinner....... it requires rendering to God permission and request for self crucifying ..... to accept repentance and admit that sin begins with my comfort of entertaining sin in the mind and my willingness to choose to say no to God with any of my known choices....... thus perpetuating the great controversy between me and God.

But once I surrender that, then begins my receiving the gift of willingness and ability to repent, the process of my conversion progresses, and in time, if not stopped in it's process, I am converted by God once again. Now the condition of my mind starts to reflect His character.

[dedication]

Yes, Justification is far more than admitting one is a sinner.
But it is the essential  first step.
We are sinners of a magnitude we don't even understand.
Totally helpless and sinful without Christ.  Condemned to death -- the wages of sin is death.

Confession and Repentance -- casting ourselves at the foot of the cross, loathing our sinfulness, and begging Him to cleanse and change us.

Jesus reaches out and lifts us to our feet,
The load of guilt and sin rolls away
And we are dressed in pure white robes.
The angels are rejoicing, singing with praise and joy.
We are clean,
Jesus smiles and takes us by the hand,
"come walk with Me"

Jesus says: See My life, my love, my compassion for mankind,
Go now and live for Me, tell others how I lifted you out of sin, to walk with Me,
Behold my life, and by beholding you will be changed from glory (godly character) to glory (Godly character)
 
Reflecting Jesus means reflecting His compassion, His longing to save souls,  His meekness, His willingness to serve, His unselfish love, -- His goodness, His trust and faith in His Father.
In short it's to reflect His character.

Too often it seemed to mean we will keep all the rules, but it is not about fulfilling all manner of rules.   Following a list of rules is not "character". In fact, if the focus is on rules, you find more and more rules are needed, because the person not living for Christ, will always find loop holes to circumvent the rules. 
As we dwell more and more on the traits of His character,  we long to be more like Him, and want to serve Him by sharing with others.   
  When Christ is our focus and leader, and partner  in all we do (since we have surrendered all to Christ) we will develop  characters in which God's law is enthroned.   Everything we do will be so we can bring more glory to God, and be effective ambassadors for HIM!

   



   

[dedication]

Story I read once --

Setting:  A place for homeless people to find food and occasionally a place to sleep.

An alcoholic stumbled into the shelter one day, badly worn and battered because of his compulsion to drink.
The Christians in the center gave him food and temporary shelter and assisted him in "drying up,"   They also shared Jesus with Him.  The alcoholic could hardly believe that Jesus loved him, and would forgive him -- the wretched drunk that he was.  But as he learned more of Christ, he found alcohol was losing it's appeal.

In gratitude he volunteered to work at the shelter and became a great help and encouragement to the people who came there for assistance.

One day another man came in, limping, nearly blind, and sick.
Tenderly the former alcoholic cared for the man.
He started telling him stories of Jesus.
The sick man grasped his arm and asked -- "Are you Jesus?"
No, no, the former alcoholic exclaimed, I'm not Jesus..
The sick man continued to grasp his arm, and commented, but you must be, no one else is so selfless and caring like you.

To reflect Jesus, is to allow Him to express His characteristics in and through us to those around us.

[newbie]

this really happened...

in a youth Sabbath school class..  the teacher was describing all the characteristics and personality of Jesus but did not tell the children who he was just yet... he wanted them to figure it out...  well, before he finished, a little boy raised his hand and with loud excitement said, "I know who it is!  It is my neighbor!"

shall we all be so gracious that the little children would think that we reflected the image of Jesus...

[dedication]

shall we all be so gracious that the little children would think that we reflected the image of Jesus...

Amen!  That is our prayer.