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Christ the Way

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 19, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 12.

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Christ the Way

By D. H. KRESS, M. D.

D. H. KRESS, M. D.
To be a follower of Christ means to walk in his footsteps, to live the life he lived as our Example while on earth; it means to follow him in his walk of self-denial and prayer. As he overcame, so we are to overcome. As he overcame on the point of appetite in man’s behalf, thus conquering where man fell, so we must gain the victory over appetite and passion, and bring our bodies into subjection to the will of Christ, for “he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
This is the way, the only way, that leads to the Father and the heavenly home. There is none other. While we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we are saved only by his life. His life must be made our life, that is, we must be made partakers of the divine nature. Daily we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Daily we are to be changed as we behold that life.
To become like him in all respects is not the work of a moment; it is the work of a lifetime. Near the close of his life, Paul, as he beheld the life of Christ, did not feel that he had yet attained unto it. He said, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” The fact that he had not attained his ideal as found in Christ did not discourage him, for he added, “But I follow after.” “I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Then he urges, “Let . . . as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” The one thus minded, even though he has not yet attained perfection, is acknowledged by heaven as a perfect man; for to be perfect is to be “thus minded.”
But the one who is pressing toward the mark, as did Paul, does not consider it a hardship to practise temperance and self-denial, for he sees before him that which his soul longs for—perfection of character. Having put his hand to the plow, he does not look back. He is not troubled with homesickness, neither is he mindful of that country whence he came; he is not looking backward to the things he has left behind, but forward and upward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He has forsaken all; his eyes are fixed upon the prize—the crown which is incorruptible. Even afflictions which may be necessary to work for us this far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, will appear light. This is what it means, and nothing short of this, to be “thus minded.”
In running a race the athlete keeps his eyes fixed on the goal; his attention is not attracted by little happenings or amusements by the way. As many as are perfect are “thus minded,” and of those who are thus minded it can be said, It does not yet appear what they shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, they shall be like him; for they shall see him (not through a glass darkly) as he is. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure.”
Shall we not count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and value highly this divine and only way to the Father as revealed in the life of our Redeemer? Let us in all humility study that life and behold it until it becomes our own life.
Takoma Park, D. C.