Then He taught them many things by parables.—Mark 4:2
The religion of Christ never degrades the receiver. It never makes him or her coarse or rough, discourteous or self-important, passionate or hardhearted. On the contrary, it refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and purifies and ennobles the thoughts, bringing them into captivity to Jesus Christ.
God’s ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. The living God has given in His holy law a transcript of His character. The greatest Teacher the world has ever known is Jesus Christ; and what is the standard He has given for all who believe in Him? “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). As God is perfect in His high sphere of action, so people may be perfect in their human sphere.
The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. There is opened before us a path of continual advancement. We have an object to reach, a standard to gain, which includes everything good and pure and noble and elevated. There should be continual striving and constant progress onward and upward toward perfection of character....
Without the divine working, human beings can do no good thing. God calls every person to repentance, yet men and women cannot even repent unless the Holy Spirit works upon the heart. But the Lord wants no one to wait until he thinks he has repented before he takes steps toward Jesus. The Saviour is continually drawing people to repentance; they need only to submit to be drawn, and their hearts will be melted in penitence.
To human beings is allotted a part in this great struggle for everlasting life—he must respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. It will require a struggle to break through the powers of darkness, and the Spirit works in him to accomplish this. But humans are no passive beings, to be saved in indolence. Men and women are called upon to strain every muscle and exercise every faculty in the struggle for immortality, yet it is God that supplies the efficiency. No human being can be saved in indolence. The Lord bids us, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 365, 366.
Further Reflection: If Jesus could teach me today, what one thing would I want to learn?
From Jesus, Name Above All Names - Page 228
Jesus, Name Above All Names