"_That ye should love as I have loved you._"
O sweet command, that goes so far beyond The mightiest impulse of the tenderest heart!
A bare permission had been much; but He Who knows our yearnings and our fearfulness, Chose graciously to _bid_ us do the thing That makes our earthly happiness, A limit that we need not fear to pa.s.s, Because we cannot. Oh, the breadth and length, And depth and height of love that pa.s.seth knowledge!
Yet Jesus said, "As I have loved you.""
"O Beatrice, I long to feel the sunshine That this should bring; but there are other words Which fall in chill eclipse. "Tis written, "Keep Yourselves from idols." How shall I obey?"
"Oh, not by loving less, but loving more.
It is not that we love our precious ones Too much, but G.o.d too little. As the lamp A miner bears upon his shadowed brow Is only dazzling in the grimy dark, And has no glare against the summer sky, So, set the tiny torch of our best love In the great sunshine of the love of G.o.d, And, though full fed and fanned, it casts no shade And dazzles not, o"erflowed with mightier light."
There is no love so deep and wide as that which is kept for Jesus. It flows both fuller and farther when it flows only through Him. Then, too, it will be a power for Him. It will always be unconsciously working for Him. In drawing others to ourselves by it, we shall be necessarily drawing them nearer to the fountain of our love, never drawing them away from it. It is the great magnet of His love which alone can draw any heart to Him; but when our own are thoroughly yielded to its mighty influence, they will be so magnetized that He will condescend to use them in this way.
Is it not wonderful to think that the Lord Jesus will not only accept and keep, but actually _use_ our love?
"Of Thine own have we given Thee," for "we love Him because He first loved us."
Set apart to love Him, And His love to know; Not to waste affection On a pa.s.sing show; Called to give Him life and heart, Called to pour the hidden treasure, That none other claims to measure, Into His beloved hand! thrice blessed "set apart"!
Chapter XII.
Our Selves kept for Jesus.
_"Keep my self, that I may be_ _Ever, only, all for Thee."_
"For Thee!" That is the beginning and the end of the whole matter of consecration.
There was a prelude to its "endless song,"--a prelude whose theme is woven into every following harmony in the new anthem of consecrated life: "The Son of G.o.d, who loved me, and gave Himself _for me_." Out of the realized "for me," grows the practical "for Thee!" If the former is a living root, the latter will be its living fruit.
"For _Thee!_" This makes the difference between forced or formal, and therefore unreasonable service, and the "reasonable service" which is the beginning of the perfect service where they see His face. This makes the difference between slave work and free work. For Thee, my Redeemer; for Thee who hast spoken to my heart; for Thee, who hast done for me--_what?_ Let us each pause, and fill up that blank with the great things the Lord hath done for us. For Thee, who art to me--_what?_ Fill that up too, before Him! For Thee, my Saviour Jesus, my Lord and my G.o.d!
And what is to be for Him? My self. We talk sometimes as if, whatever else could be subdued unto Him, self could never be. Did St. Paul forget to mention this important exception to the "all things" in Phil. iii. 21?
David said: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, _and all that is within me_, bless His Holy Name." Did he, too, unaccountably forget to mention that he only meant all that was within him, _except_ self? If not, then self must be among the "all things" which the Lord Jesus Christ is able to subdue unto Himself, and which are to "bless His Holy Name." It is Self which, once His most treacherous foe, is now, by full and glad surrender, His own soldier--coming over from the rebel camp into the royal army. It is not some one else, some temporarily possessing spirit, which says within us, "Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee," but our true and very self, only changed and renewed by the power of the Holy Ghost. And when we do that we would not, we know that "it is no more _I_ that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." Our true self is the new self, taken and won by the love of G.o.d, and kept by the power of G.o.d.
Yes, "_kept!_" There is the promise on which we ground our prayer; or, rather, one of the promises. For, search and look for your own strengthening and comfort, and you will find it repeated in every part of the Bible, from "I am with thee, and will keep thee," in Genesis, to "I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation," in Revelation.
And kept _for Him!_ Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, when it is only the fulfilling of His own eternal purpose in creating us?
"This people have I formed _for Myself._" Not ultimately only, but presently and continually; for He says, "Thou shalt abide _for Me;_" and, "He that remaineth, even he shall be _for our G.o.d_." Are you one of His people by faith in Jesus Christ? Then see what you are to Him. You, personally and individually, are part of the Lord"s portion (Deut. x.x.xii.
9) and of His inheritance (1 Kings viii. 53, and Eph. i. 18). His portion and inheritance would not be complete without you; you are His peculiar treasure (Ex. xix. 5); "a _special_ people" (how warm, and loving, and natural that expression is!) "_unto Himself_" (Deut. vii. 6). Would you call it "keeping," if you had a "special" treasure, a darling little child, for instance, and let it run wild into all sorts of dangers all day long, sometimes at your side, and sometimes out in the street, with only the intention of fetching it safe home at night? If ye then, being evil, would know better, and do better, than that, how much more shall our Lord"s keeping be true, and tender, and continual, and effectual, when He declares us to be His peculiar treasure, purchased (See 1 Pet.
ii. 9, margin) for Himself at such unknown cost!
He will keep what thus He sought, Safely guard the dearly bought; Cherish that which He did choose, Always love and never lose.
I know what some of us are thinking. "Yes; I see it all plainly enough in theory, but in practice I find I am not kept. Self goes over to the other camp again and again. If is not all for Jesus, though I have asked and wished for it to be so." Dear friends, the "all" must be sealed with "only." Are you willing to be "_only_" for Jesus? You have not given "all" to Jesus while you are not quite ready to be "_only_" for Him. And it is no use to talk about "ever" while we have not settled the "only"
and the "all." You cannot be "for Him," in the full and blessed sense, while you are partly "for" anything or any one else. For "the Lord hath _set apart_ him that is G.o.dly for Himself." You see, the "for Himself"
hinges upon the "set apart." There is no consecration without separation.
If you are mourning over want of realized consecration, will you look humbly and sincerely into _this_ point? "A garden _enclosed_ is my sister, my spouse," saith the Heavenly Bridegroom.
Set apart for Jesus!
Is not this enough, Though the desert prospect Open wild and rough?
Set apart for His delight, Chosen for His holy pleasure, Sealed to be His special treasure!
Could we choose a n.o.bler joy?--and would we, if we might?[footnote: _Loyal Responses_, p. 11.]
But yielding, by His grace, to this blessed setting apart for Himself, "The Lord shall _establish_ thee an holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee." Can there be a stronger promise? Just obey and trust His word _now_, and yield yourselves _now_ unto G.o.d, "that He may establish thee _to-day_ for a people unto Himself." Commit the keeping of your souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator, being persuaded that He is able to keep that which you commit to Him.
Now, Lord, I give myself to Thee, I would be wholly Thine, As Thou hast given Thyself to me, And Thou art wholly mine; O take me, seal me for Thine own, Thine altogether, Thine alone.
Here comes in once more that immeasurably important subject of our influence. For it is not what we say or do, so much as what we _are_, that influences others. We have heard this, and very likely repeated it again and again, but have we seen it to be inevitably linked with the great question of this chapter? I do not know anything which, thoughtfully considered, makes us realize more vividly the need and the importance of our whole selves being kept for Jesus. Any part not wholly committed, and not wholly kept, must hinder and neutralize the real influence for Him of all the rest. If we ourselves are kept all for Jesus, then our influence will be all kept for Him too. If not, then, however much we may wish and talk and try, we cannot throw our full weight into the right scale. And just in so far as it is not in the one scale, it must be in the other; weighing against the little which we have tried to put in the right one, and making the short weight still shorter.
So large a proportion of it is entirely involuntary, while yet the responsibility of it is so enormous, that our helplessness comes out in exceptionally strong relief, while our past debt in this matter is simply incalculable. Are we feeling this a little? getting just a glimpse, down the misty defiles of memory, of the neutral influence, the wasted influence, the mistaken influence, the actually wrong influence which has marked the ineffaceable although untraceable course? And all the while we owed Him all that influence! It _ought_ to have been all for Him! We have nothing to say. But what has our Lord to say? "I forgave thee all _that_ debt!"
Then, after that forgiveness which must come first, there comes a thought of great comfort in our freshly felt helplessness, rising out of the very thing that makes us realize this helplessness. Just _because_ our influence is to such a great extent involuntary and unconscious, we may rest a.s.sured that if we ourselves are truly kept for Jesus, this will be, as a quite natural result, kept for Him also. It cannot be otherwise, for as is the fountain, so will be the flow; as the spring, so the action; as the impulse, so the communicated motion. Thus there may be, and in simple trust there will be, a quiet rest about it, a relief from all sense of strain and effort, a fulfilling of the words, "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as G.o.d did from His." It will not be a matter of _trying_ to have good influence, but just of _having_ it, as naturally and constantly as the magnetized bar.
Another encouraging thought should follow. Of ourselves we may have but little weight, no particular talents or position or anything else to put into the scale; but let us remember that again and again G.o.d has shown that the influence of a very average life, when once really consecrated to Him, may outweigh that of almost any number of merely professing Christians. Such lives are like Gideon"s three hundred, carrying not even the ordinary weapons of war, but only trumpets and lamps and empty pitchers, by whom the Lord wrought great deliverance, while He did not use the others at all. For He hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
Should not all this be additional motive for desiring that our _whole_ selves should be taken and kept?
I know that whatsoever G.o.d doeth, it shall be for ever. Therefore we may rejoicingly say "ever" as well as "only" and "all for Thee!" For the Lord is our Keeper, and He is the Almighty and the Everlasting G.o.d, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He will never change His mind about keeping us, and no man is able to pluck us out of His hand.
Neither will Christ let us pluck ourselves out of His hand, for He says, "Thou _shalt_ abide for Me many days." And He that keepeth us will not slumber. Once having undertaken His vineyard, He will keep it night and day, till all the days and nights are over, and we know the full meaning of the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, unto which we are kept by His power.
And then, for ever for Him! pa.s.sing from the gracious keeping by faith for this little while, to the glorious keeping in His presence for all eternity! For ever fulfilling the object for which He formed us and chose us, we showing forth His praise, and He showing the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in the ages to come! _He for us, and we for Him for ever!_ Oh, how little we can grasp this! Yet this is the fruition of being "kept for Jesus!"
Set apart for ever For Himself alone!
Now we see our calling Gloriously shown.
Owning, with no secret dread, This our holy separation, Now the crown of consecration[footnote: Num. vi. 7.]
Of the Lord our G.o.d shall rest upon our willing head.
Chapter XIII.
Christ for Us.
_"So will I also be for Thee._"--Hos. iii. 3.
The typical promise, "Thou shalt abide for Me many days," is indeed a marvel of love. For it is given to the most undeserving, described under the strongest possible figure of utter worthlessness and treacherousness,--the woman beloved, yet an adulteress.
The depth of the abyss shows the length of the line that has fathomed it, yet only the length of the line reveals the real depth of the abyss. The sin shows the love, and the love reveals the sin. The Bible has few words more touching, though seldom quoted, than those just preceding this wonderful promise: "The love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other G.o.ds, and love flagons of wine." Put that into the personal application which no doubt underlies it, and say, "The love of the Lord toward _me_, who have looked away from Him, with wandering, faithless eyes, to other helps and hopes, and have loved earthly joys and sought earthly gratifications,--the love of the Lord toward even me!" And then hear Him saying in the next verse, "So I bought her to Me;" stooping to do _that_ in His unspeakable condescension of love, not with the typical silver and barley, but with the precious blood of Christ. Then, having thus loved us, and rescued us, and bought us with a price indeed, He says, still under the same figure, "Thou shalt abide for Me many days."
This is both a command and a pledge. But the very pledge implies our past unfaithfulness, and the proved need of even our own part being undertaken by the ever patient Lord. He Himself has to guarantee our faithfulness, because there is no other hope of our continuing faithful. Well may such love win our full and glad surrender, and such a promise win our happy and confident trust!
But He says more. He says, "So will I also be for thee!" And this seems an even greater marvel of love, as we observe how He meets every detail of our consecration with this wonderful word.[footnote: The remainder of this chapter is printed in a little penny book, ent.i.tled, _I also for Thee_, by F. R. H., published by Caswell, Birmingham, and by Nisbet & Co.]
1. _His Life_ "for thee!" "The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." Oh, wonderful gift! not promised, but _given_; not to friends, but to enemies. Given without condition, without reserve, without return.
Himself unknown and unloved, His gift unsought and unasked, He gave His life for thee; a more than royal bounty--the greatest gift that Deity could devise. Oh, grandeur of love! "I lay down My life for the sheep!"
And we for whom He gave it have held back, and hesitated to give our lives, not even _for_ Him (He has not asked us to do that), but _to_ Him!
But that is past, and He has tenderly pardoned the unloving, ungrateful reserve, and has graciously accepted the poor little fleeting breath and speck of dust which was all we had to offer. And now His precious death and His glorious life are all "for thee."