In short, He sacrificed
Himself for us. That is God's likeness. Self-sacrifice. Jesus
Christ, the babe of Bethlehem, proved Himself the Son of God, and the
express likeness of the Father, by sacrificing Himself for us.
Sacrifice yourselves then for each other! Give up your own pride,
your own selfishness, your own interest for each other, and you will
be all at peace at once.
But the angels sang, "Good will toward men." Without that their song
would not have been complete. For we are all ready to say, at such
words as I have been speaking, "Ah! pleasant enough, and pretty
enough, if they were but possible; but they are not possible. It is
in the nature of man to be selfish. Men have gone on warring,
grudging, struggling, competing, oppressing, cheating from the
beginning, and they will do so to the end."
Yes, it is not in the NATURE of man to do otherwise. In as far as
man yields to his nature, and is like the selfish brute beasts, it is
not possible for him to do anything but go on quarrelling, and
competing, and cheating to the last. But what man's nature cannot
do, God's grace can. God's good will is toward you. He loves you,
He wills--and if He wills, what is too hard for Him?--He wills to
raise you out of this selfish, quarrelsome life of sin, into a
loving, brotherly, peaceful life of righteousness.
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