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Ever Higher

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 3, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 9.

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“Ever Higher.”

The true standard of the Christian is the holy law of God. The exemplification of that standard in moral conduct is Jesus Christ our Lord. That law worked out perfectly in humanity gave us the character of Jesus of Nazareth—perfect in motive, perfect in God-given wisdom. None could rightfully accuse Him of sin, the transgression of the law. It was His own consciousness which led Him to say, “I have done the work which Thou gavest Me to do;” “I have kept My Father’s commandment, and abide in His love.”
That perfect standard and transcendent example lifts us ever higher. As we get nearer to Him, as in His light we see the exceeding breadth of the law of God, our ideal broadens in our vision, while our standard remains the same. Constantly do we see more of beauty, more of excellence, more of all the qualities which constitute “the exceeding riches” of God’s righteousness, wisdom, love, and power, yet the same true, unswerving standard remains. It does not leave us to drifting or speculation. It is an anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast.
To know this standard and its exemplification and then to accept a lower standard is to set our face to the down-hill end of the road, and to prove disloyal to God. The weak of faith, and the uninstructed may choose a lesser standard and still advance. He is following something beyond himself, and through the ordinary above him God may lead him on to the good, from the good to the better, from the better to the best, even the perfect standard and example. His face is Godward, and he follows the light.
But wo to the man who turns from the best and is satisfied with the better, or who ignores the better and is satisfied with the good. He has turned from the light to the shadow; the darkness has blinded his spiritual vision, and it will be but a little while before he will drop to the good, then to the ordinary, thence to the bad, worse, and worst. Our only hope is constant progress in the good way, with the perfect standard and its perfect exemplification ever before us. By beholding we shall become changed into the same image “from glory to glory.”