e ways in which God develops character in the redeemed are:

First, by purifying the _motive_ of the life. Character is not formed
by deeds, but by the motives prompting the deeds. Two men flag the
night express train on two railroads; the deeds are the same, but one
flags the train that he may warn, and save the lives of the people,
because a bridge has been destroyed; the other flags the train that he
may rob it. While the deeds are the same, the character of the deeds
is different, and that difference is in the motive prompting the deed,
and that motive affects, moulds the character of the one who performs
the deed. No deed is right in the sight of God that is not performed
from the motive of love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); hence, no character can be
right in the sight of God if the deeds that formed that character were
not prompted by the motive of love. All deeds performed from simply
the motive of duty, or from the desire to be saved, to go to Heaven
after this life, or from fear of Hell, are, in the sight of God,
unworthy deeds, and the characters formed by such deeds are unworthy
characters. And the Saviour defines clearly what love is: "There was a
certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence,
and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay he frankly
forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him
most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave
most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged."--Luke 7:41-43.
And John likewise defines love: "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins."--1 John 4:10. This explains why God says: "They that are
in the flesh cannot please God."--Rom. 8:8. Their motive is wrong and
they cannot have the right motive, because they have not been
"forgiven most." Hence all characters are wrong in the sight of God
that were formed by deeds whose prompting motive was a simple sense of
duty, a desire to be saved, to go to Heaven, or from fear of Hell. And
all who have such a character are lost, have never been redeemed, are
not real Christians.

Second, God develops character in the redeemed, His real children, by
chastisements. Our earthly fathers "verily for a few days chastened us
as seemed right to them; but he for our profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless