Scripture: "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."—. PHIL. ii. 5.
And what was the mind that was in Christ Jesus ? "Being in the form of God, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the Cross." Self-emptying and self-sacrifice, obedience to God's will, and love to men, even unto the death of the Cross—such was the character of Christ for which God so highly exalted Him. Such is the character of Christ that we are to imitate. He was made in the likeness of men, that we might be conformed into the likeness of God.
Self-effacement, self-sacrifice, that God's will might be done, and that man might be saved—such was the life of Christ. "Love seeketh not its own." This was His life; He lived only to please God and to bless men.
Let no one say that this is an impossibility. "What is impossible with men is possible with God." We are called to work out this salvation of a Christlike character with fear and trembling; for "it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." He of whom Christ said, "It is the Father in Me that doeth the works," is He who works in us to will and to do.
It has been said that the "missionary who is to commend the Gospel must first embody it in a character fully conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. It is only as far as he can live Christ before the eyes of the converts that he can help them to understand his message. It has at times come to pass that our representatives on the field, just because they are what we have made them, have far too often hidden the Christ whom they are giving their lives to reveal."
As the Church aims at making some marked degree of likeness to Christ's character the standard for Christian teachers, our missionaries will be able to pass this on to their converts, and say to them: "Be ye followers of us, even as we are of Christ."
Let us not rest until our faith lays hold of the promise, "It is God that worketh in us." The confidence will be aroused, that as the character of Christ is the revelation with which every missionary has been entrusted, so the power will be given to fulfil this high and holy calling. Let ministers and missionaries and all in¬tercessors make this their one great plea and aim to have this mind that was in Christ Jesus.
