As we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us, we will see our continual need of Jesus, and will be moved by an irresistible impulse of the tide of His divine love to yield all that we have and are to Him. But when we yield to deception and cherish sin, the bright light of Christ to us becomes as darkness, and we find truth unpopular and unpalatable. May we realize that daily we are either feeding the divine nature (by believing and appropriating the promises of God) or the fallen nature (by consenting to sin). Let us learn of Christ in humility, be still and know that He is God, and realize experientially the power of the gospel that can recreate our evil hearts into new hearts imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! We shall delight in obedience for Christ lives within us, the hope of glory, by continual surrender of the will to Him!
"Oh, how Christ longed to open to Israel the precious treasures of the truth! But such was their spiritual blindness that it was impossible to reveal to them the truths relating to His kingdom. They clung to their creed and their useless ceremonies when the truth of Heaven awaited their acceptance. They spent their money for chaff and husks, when the bread of life was within their reach. Why did they not go to the word of God, and search diligently to know whether they were in error? The Old Testament Scriptures stated plainly every detail of Christ's ministry, and again and again He quoted from the prophets, and declared, 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.' If they had honestly searched the Scriptures, bringing their theories to the test of God's word, Jesus need not have wept over their impenitence. He need not have declared, 'Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.' Luke 13:35. They might have been acquainted with the evidence of His Messiahship, and the calamity that laid their proud city in ruins might have been averted. But the minds of the Jews had become narrowed by their unreasoning bigotry. The lessons of Christ revealed their deficiencies of character, and demanded repentance. If they accepted His teachings, their practices must be changed, and their cherished hopes relinquished. In order to be honored by Heaven, they must sacrifice the honor of men. If they obeyed the words of this new rabbi, they must go contrary to the opinions of the great thinkers and teachers of the time." {The Desire of Ages, page 241, paragraph 4}
The more clearly we see Jesus in all His loveliness and glory, the more we will see the depth of our need of repentance and grace to be changed. May we not yield to the discouragement of the devil who wants us to give up when we see how vile we really are! May we instead look upon Calvary and realize that God wanted us, or else He would not have sent Jesus to this sin-darkened earth to live and die to save us to the uttermost. Thankfully, the more we see and feel our need, and the more we find in Christ to see in His beauty of character, the sweeter will be our union and communion with Him, for we shall become more like our Savior!