A Fully Ripened Christian Character

 

"The years that Abraham lived were a hundred and seventy-five; he breathed his last, dying in a ripe old age, after a full life,

and was gathered to his father's kindred."

Genesis 25:7, 8

 

      The thought in this text is that Abraham's life was not only long in the number of years he lived, but that it was also a full and com­plete life -- the fruitage of life's experiences was abundant and mature, full and ripe. From the time he left his kindred in Mesopotamia at the call of God until the time of his death, God's guidance and blessing had been his in a most remarkable manner. As the special friend of God his had been a life of unusual favors, and associated with spe­cial opportunities for displaying the qualities of faith and obedience God desired in him. These great opportunities were progressive in their order and also in their effects. They began with the in­itial test of leaving his country and kindred and go­ing into a land of which he knew little or nothing. Succeeding tests followed this first step of obedience, ending finally in the supreme trial, that of being asked to offer up his beloved Isaac as a burnt offer­ing. Under all these special trials he proved him­self so loyal and true to God that ever after he was to be an outstanding example of unwavering faith and steadfast obedience. Then when the silver cord of life broke, and he fell asleep rejoicing in his vi­sion of a coming day when his Seed would rise to bless the world, he left behind a record of years of faithful obedience, and a life full of ripened fruitage.

 

      To reach a similar happy ending, is the privilege of all Abraham's spiritual children. For them also a succession of experiences are divinely arranged and overruled that thereby they too may have an evi­dence of being in friendship with God as was Abra­ham. As in his case, so in theirs, these successive growth-producing experiences, properly responded to, will eventually produce a character, likewise, full and complete. This is the full life intended in the ad­monition of the Apostle Peter when he stresses the necessity of having an abounding measure of the higher spiritual qualities of Christian character, say­ing, "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor un­fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Then he can promise that "an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"­ (2 Peter 1:8, 11).

 

      Nature can teach us many lessons easily applied in our experience as maturing Christians. Jesus rec­ognized this fact and drew many of His par­ables from nature's storehouse.   Wheat fields, trees, vines, birds, lilies, all served His purpose. As a Sow­er, He went forth sowing good seed, spreading the message of God's love among men. Those receiving it into the soil of a good heart He gathered into His fellowship of love. Time for continuous growth He knew would be needed before mature fruit would appear, but He made it clear that fully ripened fruitage would be looked for in due time. Every branch failing to bring forth fruit, would be taken away, gathered and burned. The great fruit specially looked for was the reflection of His own love in His disciples. By a rich possession of this love, they would glorify Him, and by loving one another, furnish the best evidence possible to the world about them that His Spirit of love could bind them together in a oneness such as He and the Father knew. Thus, as a foundation fact of character and, as a proof of ripeness in spiritual development, Jesus made this unity of love a token of Christian maturity.

 

      This is understandable, for it is the fulfilling of the law as epitomized by Him­self. Too few have attained the high old-age de­velopment by which this royal law of love and unity can be displayed. But if we want to know anything of the blessedness and the sweetness of victory over all our inherent unloveliness, and to walk in the lib­erty of love, we can get it only by keeping close to Jesus, the Vine. As we draw nearer to the Master, we will assuredly feel that we are coming closer to all those who stand around the same center, and so draw from Him the same life of love. A picture drawn from nature will illustrate this. In the early spring, when the wheat is green and young, just a little above the soil in which it stands, it appears in long rows across the field, each row apart from the other. But as the season of growth advances, there is a gradual disappearance of the separation between the lines, and by the time the grain is ripe and ready for the ingathering, all lines of separation have gone, leaving one unbroken tract of waving golden grain. So it must be in the Lord's wheat-field.

 

      When immaturity prevails among His people, they are like those early rows of tender wheat, drawn up in distinct lines of separation, but as maturity is reached, those lines should disappear, and the field presents a unity which will reflect the golden tint of ripeness and readiness for the Heaven­ly Garner. If we live the life of Christ, and let the love of Christ fill our hearts, then we will have this beau­tiful maturity, and so be ready to reach out to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and our hearts will thrill with thankfulness in the thought that all are one in Him.

 

      So the life that is really Christ-like goes on toward its intended goal. All who love the Lord in a sin­cere devotion grow into a harvesting ripeness. In them the fruitage abounds, as it is written: "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper­ance" Gal. 5:22-23). These beautiful and beneficent effects of love are brought forth in largeness by all truly related to Christ. They grow in grace and in knowledge. To these the last days of life are the happiest, the holi­est, and the best. The perfume of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary, so very pleasing to God, descends on such mature characters. Life on earth is sweetened for them as they keep that sacrifice uppermost in mind, letting it purify the atmosphere from all that is contrary to Calvary's deep meaning. Thus, as has been said, "The true saint will carry in his gar­ments the fragrance of the sanctuary, of the holy oil, of the sweet spices of the garden of grace, the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valley."

 

      What a glowing prospect this view holds before the devout Christian as he nears the full maturity of his experience in the evening-time of life! It can be for him the happiest, holiest, and best of all his days. It can be a time of joyous retrospection, call­ing to mind how goodness and mercy have never ceased to attend his entire journey through. It can be a time of richest feasting and delightful serenity. The Lord often reserves His choicest morsels for these life-ending days. Beulah Land lies near the bounds of life. It comes after the long journey with its mingled trials and joys. The sunset of life comes, bringing to view the verification of the Psalmist's character-sketch of a mature Christian: "The right­eous shall spring up like a palm-tree: like a cedar in Lebanon shall he grow high. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God shall they spring up! They shall still flourish in high old age; they shall be vigorous and covered with foliage" (Psalm 92:13-15, Leeser). The palm-tree of special note in Palestine was the date-palm. Of this tree, it is said that it frequently continues to thrive and bear fruit up to one hundred years. And it is also said that as it grows older the fruit becomes increasingly sweeter. What a perfect illustration of the truly developed Christian.

 

      We come again to Nature's manifold lessons: "What splendors of glory she puts on in her autumn days! The trees array themselves with the most gor­geous colors; the hedges by the wayside festoon their brows with beauty and even the commonest shrubs and plants receive from the artistic fingers of the sunbeams all the tints of the rainbow. Every in­telligent beholder must admire. Thus, it is with the mature Christian. His earthly life is temporal and must sink into decay.

 

Ere long 'the silver cord shall be loosed, the golden bowl be broken, the pitch­er be broken at the fountain, the wheel broken at the cistern,' because man goes to his long home. But his end is glorious. He fades away like a leaf -- beautifully, gently, hopefully, usefully. All his matured virtues and rich experiences come into view, and find expression, not only in his words and actions but even on his face. His utterances and deeds are full of meekness and gentleness, gratitude and grace, and the inward glory of the loving spirit is already beaming forth from his peaceful and radiant countenance, and is both seen and admired by the dear ones who surround him. He looks back upon his active and useful life with profoundest thankful­ness to God, by whose help he was enabled to do some little good to his fellow creatures in the Church and in the world. And he looks forward to the glori­ous future, assured that the hopes of his heart like divinely-inspired prophecies are certain to be ful­filled."

 

      Thus, we are matured, ripened, and glorified. Receiv­ing the truth of Christ into the mind, His love into the heart, and His Spirit into our spirit, the transformation goes on from day to day. The graces which shone with such perfect luster in the life of Jesus, are made to shine more and more in our characters in proportion as we grow up into the full stature of a perfect man in Christ. Then when perfected, these graces will form a robe of adorning, beautiful to God, to angels, and to men.

 

            "So let our daily lives express
            'The beauties of true holiness;


            So let the Christian graces shine,
            That all may know the power divine. 

 

            Let love and faith and hope and joy
            Be pure, and free from sin's alloy;


            Let Christ's sweet spirit reign within,
            And grace subdue the power of sin. 

 

            Our Father, God, to Thee we raise
            Our prayer for help to tread Thy ways­


            For wisdom, patience, love, and light,
            For grace to speak and act aright." 

- J. J. Blackburn