"Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16)
Posted : 1 Oct, 2011 02:05 AM
Devotional
Let your life be a clear reflection of the glory of the Redeemer. The saints of God are the only witnesses to this glory. They are the only reflectors the Lord has in this dark and Christ-denying world. Holiness�springing from the fount of the Spirit's indwelling grace, cherished and matured by close views of the cross, and imparting a character of sanctity of beauty to every act of your life�will be the highest testimony you can bear to the Redeemer's glory. That glory is entrusted to your hands. It is committed to your guardianship.
Seeing that it is so, then, "What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness" (2 Pet. 3:11). How exact in principles! How upright in conduct! How watchful over temper, and how vigilant where most assailed! How wide awake to the wiles of the devil, and how sleepless against the encroachments of sin! How strict in all transactions with the world! How tender, charitable, meek, and forgiving in all your conduct with the saints!
Alas! At best we are but dim reflectors of this great glory of our Lord. We are unworthy and unfaithful depositories of so rich a treasure! How much�of clinging infirmity, of unmortified sin, of carelessness of spirit, of unsanctified temper, of tampering with temptation, of a lack of strict integrity of uprightness�dims our light, neutralizes our testimony for God, and weakens, if not entirely destroys, our moral influence!
We are not more eminently useful because we are not more eminently holy. We bring so little glory to Christ because we seek so much our own. We reflect so faint and flickering a beam because our posture is so seldom that of the apocalyptic "angel standing in the sun" (Rev. 19:17). We realize so imperfectly our oneness with, and standing in, Christ; and this will ever foster a feeble, fruitless, and drooping profession of Christianity. "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me" (John 15:4).
Oh, to know more of this abiding in Christ! See how Jesus invites his saints to it. Are you fallen? He bids you take hold of his strength. Are you burdened? He bids you cast your burden on his arm. Are you wearied? He bids you recline on him for rest. Does the world persecute you? Do the "daughters of Jerusalem" smite you? Does the watchman treat you unkindly? He bids you take refuge within the hallowed sanctuary of his own pierced and loving heart. Do you need grace? He bids you sink your empty vessel beneath the depths of his ocean fullness, and draw freely "more grace" (Jas. 4:6). Whatever corruptions distress you, whatever temptations assail you, whatever adversity grieves you, whatever cloud darkens you, whatever necessity presses upon you, as a watchful Shepherd, as a tender Brother, as a faithful Friend, as a great High Priest, he bids all his saints to draw near, and rest in his love.
Oh, he has a spacious bosom! There is room in that heart for you, O Christian. Do not think your lot is desolate, lonely, and friendless. Do not think that all have forsaken you, and that you are treading your way in sadness and in solitude. There is One who loves you, who thinks of you, who ever has his eye upon you, and who at this moment is guiding, upholding, and caring for you. That One is Jesus! Oh that you could but look into his heart, and see how he loves you! Oh that you could but hear him say so gently, so earnestly, "Abide in my love" (John 15:9�10).
Cheer up! you are in Christ's heart, and Christ is in your heart. You are not alone. Your God and your Father is with you. Your Shepherd guides you. The Comforter spreads his wings around you. And heaven is bright before you. Soon you will be there. The pilgrim will repose his weary limbs. The voyager will be moored in his harbor of rest. The warrior will put off his armor, and shout his song of triumph.
Then look up! Christ is yours, God is yours, heaven is yours. If God is for you, who can be against you? And if you find disappointment in created good, it will but endear Jesus. If you know more of the inward plague, it will but drive you to the atoning blood. If you have storms and tempests, they will but shorten the voyage, and blow you the quicker to glory.
