 Be Ye Holy!
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"Holiness" by J. C. Ryle Table of Contents
Do you love Me?
"Do you love Me?" (John 21:16)
A disposition to love somebody is one of the commonest
feelings which God has implanted in human nature. Too often, unhappily,
people set their affection on unworthy objects. I want this day to claim a
place for Him who alone is worthy of all our hearts’ best feelings. I want
men to give some of their love to that divine Person who loved us, and gave
Himself for us. In all their loving I would have them not forget to Love
Christ.
The question which heads this message was addressed by
Christ to the apostle Peter. A more important question could not be asked.
Eighteen hundred years have passed away since the words were spoken. But to
this very day the inquiry is most searching and useful.
Suffer me to press this mighty subject upon the attention
of every reader of this message. This is no matter for mere enthusiasts and
fanatics. It deserves the consideration of every reasonable Christian who
believes the Bible. Our very salvation is bound up with it. Life or death,
heaven or hell, depend on our ability to answer the simple question "Do you
love Christ?"
There are two points which I wish to bring forward in
opening up this subject.
1. Let me show the peculiar
feeling of a true Christian towards Christ—he loves Him. A true
Christian is not a mere baptized man or woman. He is something more. He is
not a person who only goes, as a matter of form, to a church or chapel on
Sundays, and lives all the rest of the week as if there was no God.
Formality is not Christianity. Ignorant lip worship is not true religion.
The Scripture speaks expressly: "They are not all Israel which are of
Israel" (Rom. 9:6). The practical lesson of those words is clear and plain.
All are not true Christians who are members of the visible church of Christ.
The true Christian is one whose religion is in his heart
and life. It is felt by himself in his heart. It is seen by others in his
conduct and life. He feels his sinfulness, guilt and badness, and repents.
He sees Jesus Christ to be that divine Savior whom his soul needs, and
commits himself to Him. He puts off the old man with his corrupt and carnal
habits, and puts on the new man. He lives a new and holy life, fighting
habitually against the world, the flesh and the devil. Christ Himself is the
cornerstone of his Christianity. Ask him in what he trusts for the
forgiveness of his many sins, and he will tell you, in the death of Christ.
Ask him in what righteousness he hopes to stand innocent at the judgment
day, and he will tell you it is the righteousness of Christ. Ask him by what
pattern he tries to frame his life, and he will tell you that it is the
example of Christ.
But, beside all this, there is one thing in a true
Christian which is eminently peculiar to him. That thing is love to Christ.
Knowledge, faith, hope, reverence, obedience are all marked features in a
true Christian’s character. But his picture would be very imperfect if you
omitted his "love" to his divine Master. He not only knows, trusts and
obeys. He goes further than this—he loves.
This peculiar mark of a true Christian is one which we
find mentioned several times in the Bible. "Faith towards our Lord Jesus
Christ" is an expression which many Christians are familiar with. Let it
never be forgotten that love is mentioned by the Holy Spirit in almost as
strong terms as faith. Great as the danger is of him "that believes not,"
the danger of him that "loves not" is equally great. Not believing and not
loving are both steps to everlasting ruin.
Hear what Paul says to the Corinthians "If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha" (1 Cor. 16:22).
Paul allows no way of escape to the man who does not love Christ. He leaves
him no loophole or excuse. A man may lack clear head–knowledge, and yet be
saved. He may fail in courage, and be overcome by the fear of man, like
Peter. He may fall tremendously, like David, and yet rise again. But if a
man does not love Christ, he is not in the way of life. The curse is yet
upon him. He is on the broad road that leads to destruction.
Hear what Paul says to the Ephesians: "Grace be with all
those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" (Eph. 6:24). The apostle
is here sending his good wishes, and declaring his good will to all true
Christians. Many of them, no doubt, he had never seen. Many of them in the
early churches, we may be very sure, were weak in faith and knowledge and
self–denial. How, then, shall he describe them in sending his message? What
words can he use which will not discourage the weaker brethren? He chooses a
sweeping expression which exactly describes all true Christians under one
common name. All had not attained to the same degree, whether in doctrine or
practice. But all loved Christ in sincerity.
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says to the Jews:
"If God were your Father, you would love Me" (John 8:42). He saw His
misguided enemies satisfied with their spiritual condition, on the one
single ground that they were children of Abraham. He saw them, like many
ignorant Christians of our own day, claiming to be God’s children, for no
better reasons than this: that they were circumcised and belonged to the
Jewish church. He lays down the broad principle that no man is a child of
God, who does not love God’s only begotten Son. No man has a right to call
God "Father" who does not love Christ. Well would it be for many Christians
if they were to remember that this mighty principle applies to them as well
as to the Jews. No love to Christ—then no sonship to God!
Hear once more what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the
Apostle Peter, after He rose from the dead. Three times He asked him the
question, "Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love Me?" (John 21:15–17). The
occasion was remarkable. He meant gently to remind His erring disciple of
his thrice–repeated fall. He desired to call forth from him a new confession
of faith, before publicly restoring to him his commission to feed the
church. And what was the question that He asked him? He might have said,
"Believe you?" "Are you converted?" "Are you ready to confess Me?" "Will you
obey Me?" He uses none of these expressions. He simply says, "Do you love
Me?" This is the point, He would have us know, on which a man’s Christianity
hinges. Simple as the question sounded, it was most searching. Plain and
easy to be understood by the most unlearned poor man, it contains matter
which tests the reality of the most advanced apostle. If a man truly loves
Christ, all is right; if not, all is wrong.
Would you know the secret of this peculiar feeling
towards Christ which distinguishes the true Christian? You have it in the
words of John: "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). That
text no doubt applies specially to God the Father. But it is no less true of
God the Son.
A true Christian loves Christ for all He has done for
him. He has suffered in his stead, and died for him on the cross. He has
redeemed him from the guilt, the power and the consequences of sin by His
blood. He has called him by His Spirit to self–knowledge, repentance, faith,
hope and holiness. He has forgiven all his many sins and blotted them out.
He has freed him from the captivity of the world, the flesh and the devil.
He has taken him from the brink of hell, placed him in the narrow way, and
set his face towards heaven. He has given him light instead of darkness,
peace of conscience instead of uneasiness, hope instead of uncertainty, life
instead of death. Can you wonder that the true Christian loves Christ?
And he loves Him besides, for all that He is still doing.
He feels that He is daily washing away his many shortcomings and
infirmities, and pleading his soul’s cause before God. He is daily supplying
all the needs of his soul, and providing him with an hourly provision of
mercy and grace. He is daily leading him by His Spirit to a city of
habitation, bearing with him when he is weak and ignorant, raising him up
when he stumbles and falls, protecting him against his many enemies,
preparing an eternal home for him in heaven. Can you wonder that the true
Christian loves Christ?
Does the debtor in Jail love the friend who unexpectedly
and undeservedly pays all his debts, supplies him with fresh capital, and
takes him into partnership with himself? Does the prisoner in war love the
man who, at the risk of his own life, breaks through the enemies’ lines,
rescues him and sets him free? Does the drowning sailor love the man who
plunges into the sea, dives after him, catches him by the hair of his head
and by a mighty effort saves him from a watery grave? A very child can
answer such questions as these. Just in the same way, and upon the same
principles, a true Christian loves Jesus Christ.
a. This love to Christ is the inseparable companion of
saving faith. A faith of devils, a mere intellectual faith, a man may have
without love, but not that faith which saves. Love cannot usurp the office
of faith. It cannot justify. It does not join the soul to Christ. It cannot
bring peace to the conscience. But where there is real justifying faith in
Christ, there will always be heart love to Christ. He that is really
forgiven is the man who will really love (Luke 7:47). If a man has no love
to Christ, you may be sure he has no faith.
b. Love to Christ is the mainspring of work for Christ.
There is little done for His cause on earth from sense of duty, or from
knowledge of what is right and proper. The heart must be interested before
the hands will move and continue moving. Excitement may galvanize the
Christian’s hands into a fitful and spasmodic activity. But there will be no
patient continuance in well–doing, no unwearied labor in missionary work at
home or abroad, without love. The nurse in a hospital may do her duty
properly and well, may give the sick man his medicine at the right time, may
feed him, minister to him and attend to all his wants. But there is a vast
difference between that nurse and a wife tending the sick–bed of a beloved
husband, or a mother watching over a dying child. The one acts from a sense
of duty; the other from affection and love. The one does her duty because
she is paid for it; the other is what she is because of her heart. It is
just the same in the matter of the service of Christ. The great workers of
the church, the men who have led forlorn hopes in the mission–field, and
turned the world upside down, have all been eminently lovers of Christ.
Examine the characters of Owen and Baxter, of Rutherford
and George Herbert, of Leighton and Hervey, of Whitefield and Wesley, of
Henry Martyn and Judson, of Bickersteth and Simeon, of Hewitson and
MCCHEYNE, of Stowell and M’Neile. These men have left a mark on the world.
And what was the common feature of their characters? They all loved Christ.
They not only held a creed. They loved a Person, even the Lord Jesus Christ.
c. Love to Christ is the point which we ought specially
to dwell upon, in teaching religion to children. Election, imputed
righteousness, original sin, justification, sanctification and even faith
itself are matters which sometimes puzzle a child of tender years. But love
to Jesus seems far more within reach of their understanding. That He loved
them even to His death, and that they ought to love Him in return, is a
creed which meets the span of their minds. How true it is that "out of the
mouths of babes and sucklings You has perfected praise"! (Matt. 21:16).
There are myriads of Christians who know every article of the Athanasian,
Nicene and Apostolic Creeds, and yet know less of real Christianity than a
little child who only knows that he loves Christ.
d. Love to Christ is the common meeting point of
believers of every branch of Christ’s church on earth. Whether Episcopalian
or Presbyterian, Baptist or Independent, Calvinist or Arminian, Methodist or
Moravian, Lutheran or Reformed, Established or Free—here at least they are
agreed. About forms and ceremonies, about church government and modes of
worship, they often differ widely. But on one point, at any rate, they are
united. They have all one common feeling towards Him on whom they build
their hope of salvation. They "love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" (Eph
6:24). Many of them, perhaps, are ignorant of systematic divinity, and could
argue but feebly in defense of their creed. But they all know what they feel
towards Him who died for their sins. "I cannot speak much for Christ, sir,"
said an old uneducated Christian woman to Dr. Chalmers, "but if I cannot
speak for Him, I could die for Him!"
e. Love to Christ will be the distinguishing mark of all
saved souls in heaven. The multitude which no man can number will all be of
one mind. Old differences will be merged in one common feeling. Old
doctrinal peculiarities, fiercely wrangled for upon earth, will be covered
over by one common sense of debt to Christ. Luther and Zwingli will no
longer dispute. Wesley and Toplady will no longer waste time in controversy.
Churchmen and Dissenters will no longer bite and devour one another. All
will find themselves joining with one heart and voice in that hymn of
praise: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to Him be
glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 1:5–6).
The words which John Bunyan puts in the mouth of Mr.
Standfast, as he stood in the river of death, are very beautiful. He said,
"This river has been a terror to many; yes, the thoughts of it also have
often frightened me. But now methinks I stand easy: my foot is fixed upon
that on which the feet of the priests that bear the ark stood while Israel
went over Jordan. The waters indeed are to the palate bitter, and to the
stomach cold; yet the thoughts of what I am going to, and of the convoy that
waits for me on the other side, lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see
myself now at the end of my journey; my toilsome days are ended. I am going
to see that head which was crowned with thorns, and that face which was spit
upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearing and faith, but now I go where
I shall live by sight, and be with Him in whose company I delight myself. I
have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and wherever I have seen the print of
His shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot, too. His name
has been to me a civet–box; yes, sweeter than all perfumes! His voice to me
has been most sweet; and His countenance I have more desired than those who
have desired the light of the sun!" Happy are those who know something of
this experience! He that would be in tune for heaven must know something of
love to Christ. He that dies ignorant of that love had better never have
been born.
2. Let me show, in the second place,
the peculiar marks by which love to Christ makes
itself known.
The point is one of vast importance. If there is no
salvation without love to Christ, if he that does not love Christ is in
peril of eternal condemnation, it becomes us all to find out very distinctly
what we know about this matter. Christ is in heaven, and we are upon earth.
In what way shall the man be discerned that loves Him?
Happily the point is one which it is not very hard to
settle. How do we know whether we love any person here upon earth? In what
way and manner does love show itself between people in this world, between
husband and wife, between parent and child, between brother and sister,
between friend and friend? Let these questions be answered by common sense
and observation, and I ask no more. Let these questions be honestly
answered, and the knot before us is untied. How does affection show itself
among ourselves?
a. If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do
not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance
or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his
occupation. He comes up before our mind’s eye many a time in the day. Though
perhaps far distant, he is often present in our thoughts. Well, it is just
so between the true Christian and Christ! Christ "dwells in his heart," and
is thought of more or less every day (Eph. 3:17). The true Christian does
not need to be reminded that he has a crucified Master. He often thinks of
Him. He never forgets that He has a day, a cause and a people, and that of
His people he is one. Affection is the real secret of a good memory in
religion. No worldly man can think much about Christ, unless Christ is
pressed upon his notice, because he has no affection for Him. The true
Christian has thoughts about Christ every day that he lives, for this one
simple reason that he loves Him.
b. If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We
find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest
in any report which others make of him. We are all attention when others
talk about him, and describe his ways, his sayings, his doings and his
plans. Some may hear him mentioned with utter indifference, but our own
hearts bound within us at the very sound of his name. Well, it is just so
between the true Christian and Christ. The true Christian delights to hear
something about his Master. He likes those sermons best which are full of
Christ. He enjoys that society most in which people talk of the things which
are Christ’s. I have read of an old Welsh believer, who used to walk several
miles every Sunday to hear an English clergyman preach, though she did not
understand a word of English. She was asked why she did so. She replied,
that this clergyman named the name of Christ so often in his sermons, that
it did her good. She loved even the name of her Savior.
c. If we love a person, we like to read about him. What
intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a
letter from an absent son to his mother. Others may see little worth notice
in the letter. They can scarcely take the trouble to read it through. But
those who love the writer see something in the letter which no one else can.
They carry it about with them as a treasure. They read it over and over
again. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true
Christian delights to read the Scriptures, because they tell him about his
beloved Savior. It is no wearisome task with him to read them. He rarely
needs reminding to take his Bible with him when he goes a journey. He cannot
be happy without it. And why is all this? It is because the Scriptures
testify of Him whom his soul loves, even Christ.
d. If we love a person, we like to please him. We are
glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice and do the
things which he approves. We even deny ourselves to meet his wishes, abstain
from things which we know he dislikes and learn things to which we are not
naturally inclined, because we think it will give him pleasure. Well, it is
just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian studies to
please Him, by being holy both in body and spirit. Show him anything in his
daily practice that Christ hates, and he will give it up. Show him anything
that Christ delights in, and he will follow after it. He does not murmur at
Christ’s requirements as being too strict and severe, as the children of the
world do. To him Christ’s commandments are not grievous, and Christ’s burden
is light. And why is all this? Simply because he loves Him.
e. If we love a person, we like his friends. We are
favorably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them
by the common tie of common love to one and the same person. When we meet
them we do not feel that we are altogether strangers. There is a bond of
union between us. They love the person that we love, and that alone is an
introduction. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The
true Christian regards all Christ’s. friends as his friends, members of the
same body, children of the same family, soldiers in the same army, travelers
to the same home. When he meets them, he feels as if he had long known them.
He is more at home with them in a few minutes, than he is with many worldly
people after an acquaintance of several years. And what is the secret of all
this? It is simply affection to the same Savior and love to the same Lord.
f. If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and
honor. We do not like to hear him spoken against, without speaking up for
him and defending him. We feel bound to maintain his interests and his
reputation. We regard the person who treats him ill with almost as much
disfavor as if he had ill–treated us. Well, it is just so between the true
Christian and Christ! The true Christian regards with a godly jealousy all
efforts to disparage his Master’s word, or name, or church, or day. He will
confess Him before princes, if need be, and be sensitive of the least
dishonor put upon Him. He will not hold his peace, and suffer his Master’s
cause to be put to shame, without testifying against it. And why is all
this? Simply because he loves Him.
g. If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell
him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no
difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation. However silent and
reserved we may be to others, we find it easy to talk to a much–loved
friend. However often we may meet, we are never at a loss for matter to talk
about. We have always much to say, much to ask about, much to describe, much
to communicate. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
The true Christian finds no difficulty in speaking to his Savior. Every day
he has something to tell Him, and he is not happy unless he tells it. He
speaks to Him in prayer every morning and night. He tells Him his wants and
desires, his feelings and his fears. He asks counsel of Him in difficulty.
He asks comfort of Him in trouble. He cannot help it. He must converse with
his Savior continually, or he would faint by the way. And why is this?
Simply because he loves Him.
h. Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always
with him. Thinking and hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all
well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more. We
long to be always in their company. We wish to be continually in their
society, and to hold communion with them without interruption or farewell.
Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The heart of a
true Christian longs for that blessed day when he will see his Master face
to face, and go out no more. He longs to have done with sinning and
repenting and believing and to begin that endless life when he shall see as
he has been seen, and sin no more. He has found it sweet to live by faith,
and he feels it will be sweeter still to live by sight. He has found it
pleasant to hear of Christ and talk of Christ and read of Christ. How much
more pleasant will it be to see Christ with his own eyes, and never to leave
him any more! "Better," he feels, "is the sight of the eyes than the
wandering of the desire" (Eccl. 6:9). And why is all this? Simply because he
loves Him.
Such are the marks by which true love may be discovered.
They are all plain, simple and easy to be understood. There is nothing dark,
abstruse and mysterious about them. Use them honestly, and handle them
fairly, and you cannot fail to get some light on the subject of this
message.
Perhaps you had a beloved son in the during a time of
war. Perhaps he was actively engaged in that war, and in the very midst of
the struggle. Cannot you remember how strong and deep and anxious your
feelings were about that son? That was love!
Perhaps you have known what it is to have a beloved
husband in the navy, often called from home by duty, often separated from
you for many months and even years. Cannot you recollect your sorrowful
feelings at that time of separation? That was love!
Perhaps you have at this moment a beloved brother who has
moved to a large community, launched for the first time amid the temptations
of a great city, in order to make his way in education or business. How will
he turn out? How will he get on? Will you ever see him again? Do you not
know that you often think about that brother? That is affection!
Perhaps you are engaged to be married to a person every
way suited to you. But prudence makes it necessary to defer the marriage to
a distant period, and duty makes it necessary to be at a distance from the
one you have promised to make your wife. Must you not confess that she is
often in your thoughts? Must you not confess that you like to hear of her,
and hear from her, and that you long to see her? That is affection!
All of this is familiar to everyone, and I need not
elaborate. There is hardly a branch of Adam’s family that is ignorant of
what it means to love. Then let it never be said that we cannot know if a
Christian loves Christ. It may be discovered, it can be known, the proofs
are all ready to your hand. Love to the Lord Jesus Christ is no hidden,
secret, impalpable thing. It is like light and sound and heat; it is seen
and heard and felt. Where there is no evidence for love, love does not
exist.
It is time for me to draw this message to a
conclusion. But I cannot end without an
effort to press its subject home to the individual conscience of each into
whose hands it has fallen. I do it in all love and affection. My heart’s
desire and prayer to God, in writing this message, is to do good to souls.
1. Let me ask you to look the question in the face which
Christ asked of Peter, and try to answer it for yourself. Look at it
seriously. Examine it carefully. Weigh it well. After reading all that I
have said about it, can you honestly say that you love Christ?
It is no answer to tell me that you believe the truth of
Christianity, and hold the articles of the Christian faith. Such religion as
this will never save your soul. The devils believe in a certain way, and
tremble (James 2:19). True saving Christianity is not the mere believing a
certain set of opinions, and holding a certain set of notions. Its essence
is knowing, trusting and loving a certain living Person who died for us,
even Christ the Lord. The early Christians, like Phoebe and Persis and
Tryphena and Tryphosa and Gaius and Philemon, knew little probably of
dogmatic theology. But they all had this grand leading feature in their
religion: they loved Christ.
It is no answer to tell me that you disapprove of a
religion of feelings. If you mean by that that you dislike a religion
consisting of nothing but feelings, I agree with you entirely. But if you
mean to shut out feelings altogether, you can know little of Christianity.
The Bible teaches us plainly that a man may have good feelings without any
true religion. But it teaches us no less plainly that there can be no true
religion without some feeling towards Christ.
It is vain to conceal that, if you do not love Christ,
your soul is in great danger. You can have no saving faith now while you
live. You are unfit for heaven if you die. He that lives without love to
Christ can be sensible of no obligation to Him. He that dies without love to
Christ could never be happy in that heaven where Christ is all, and in all.
Awake to know the peril of your position. Open your eyes. Consider your
ways, and be wise. I can only warn you as a friend. But I do it with all my
heart and soul. May God grant that this warning may not be in vain!
2. If you do not love Christ, let me tell you plainly
what is the reason. You have no sense of debt to Him. You have no feeling of
obligation to Him. You have no abiding recollection of having got anything
from Him. This being the case, it is not likely, it is not probable, it is
not reasonable that you should love Him.
There is but one remedy for this state of things. That
remedy is self–knowledge and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The eyes of
your understanding must be opened. You must find out what you are by nature.
You must discover that grand secret, your guilt and emptiness in God’s
sight.
Perhaps you never read your Bible at all, or only read an
occasional chapter as a mere matter of form, without interest,
understanding, or self–application. Take my advice this day, and change your
plan. Begin to read the Bible like a man in earnest, and never rest until
you become familiar with it. Read what the law of God requires, as expounded
by the Lord Jesus in the fifth of Matthew. Read how Paul describes human
nature in the first two chapters of his Epistle to the Romans. Study such
passages as these with prayer for the Spirit’s teaching, and then say
whether you are not a debtor to God, and a debtor in mighty need of a friend
like Christ.
Perhaps you are one who has never known anything of real,
hearty, business–like prayer. You have been used to regard religion as an
affair of churches, chapels, forms, services and Sundays, but not as a thing
requiring the serious heartfelt attention of the inward man. Take my advice
this day, and change your plan. Begin the habit of real earnest pleading
with God about your soul. Ask Him for light, teaching and self–knowledge.
Beseech Him to show you anything you need to know for the saving of your
soul. Do this with all your heart and mind, and I have no doubt before long
you will feel your need of Christ.
The advice I offer may seem simple and old–fashioned. Do
not despise it on that account. It is the good old way in which millions
have walked already, and found peace to their souls. Not to love Christ is
to be in imminent danger of eternal ruin. To see your need of Christ and
your amazing debt to Christ is the first step towards loving Him. To know
yourself and find out your real condition before God is the only way to see
your need. To search God’s book and ask God for light in prayer is the right
course by which to attain saving knowledge. Do not be above taking the
advice I offer. Take it and be saved.
3. Lastly, if you really know anything of love towards
Christ, accept two parting words of comfort and counsel. The Lord grant they
may do you good.
First, if you love Christ in deed and truth, rejoice in
the thought that you have good evidence about the state of your soul. Love,
I tell you this day, is an evidence of grace.
What though you are sometimes perplexed with doubts and
fears? What though you find it hard to say whether your faith is genuine and
your grace real? What though your eyes are often so dimmed with tears that
you cannot clearly see your calling and election of God? Still there is
ground for hope and strong consolation, if your heart can testify that you
love Christ. Where there is true love there is faith and grace. You would
not love Him if He had not done something for you. Your very love is a token
for good.
Secondly, if you love Christ, never be ashamed to let
others see it and know it. Speak for Him. Witness for Him. Live for Him.
Work for Him. If He has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own
blood, you never need shrink from letting others know that you feel it, and
love Him in return.
"Man," said a thoughtless, ungodly English traveler, to a
North American Indian convert, "Man, what is the reason that you make so
much of Christ, and talk so much about Him? What has this Christ done for
you, that you should make so much ado about Him?"
The converted Indian did not answer him in words. He
gathered together some dry leaves and moss and made a ring with them on the
ground. He picked up a live worm and put it in the middle of the ring. He
struck a light and set the moss and leaves on fire. The flame soon rose, and
the heat scorched the worm. It writhed in agony, and after trying in vain to
escape on every side, curled itself up in the middle, as if about to die in
despair. At that moment the Indian reached forth his hand, took up the worm
gently and placed it on his bosom. "Stranger," he said to the Englishman,
"do you see that worm? I was that perishing creature. I was dying in my
sins, hopeless, helpless and on the brink of eternal fire. It was Jesus
Christ who put forth the arm of His power. It was Jesus Christ who delivered
me with the hand of His grace, and plucked me from everlasting burnings. It
was Jesus Christ who placed me, a poor sinful worm, near the heart of His
love. Stranger, that is the reason why I talk of Jesus Christ, and make much
of Him. I am not ashamed of it, because I love Him."
If we know anything of love to Christ, may we have the
mind of this North American Indian! May we never think that we can love
Christ too well, live to Him too thoroughly, confess Him too boldly, lay
ourselves out for Him too heartily! Of all the things that will surprise us
in the resurrection morning, this I believe will surprise us most: that we
did not love Christ more before we died.
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