Morning  “For me to live is Christ.” / Philippians 1:21

The believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do so when God the

Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by grace he was brought to see the

dying Saviour making a propitiation for his guilt. From the moment of the new

and celestial birth the man begins to live to Christ. Jesus is to believers

the one pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to part with all that we

have. He has so completely won our love, that it beats alone for him; to his

glory we would live, and in defence of his gospel we would die; he is the

pattern of our life, and the model after which we would sculpture our

character. Paul’s words mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim

and end of his life was Christ–nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words

of an ancient saint, he did eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life. Jesus was

his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life of his

life. Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this idea?

Can you honestly say that for you to live is Christ? Your business–are you

doing it for Christ? Is it not done for self- aggrandizement and for family

advantage? Do you ask, “Is that a mean reason?” For the Christian it is. He

professes to live for Christ; how can he live for another object without

committing a spiritual adultery? Many there are who carry out this principle

in some measure; but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for

Christ as the apostle did? Yet, this alone is the true life of a

Christian–its source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up

in one word–Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to

live only in thee and to thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between

the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be,

“Ready for either.”

 

Evening  “My sister, my spouse.” / Song of Solomon 4:12

Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon with intense

affection addresses his bride the church. “My sister, one near to me by ties

of nature, partaker of the same sympathies. My spouse, nearest and dearest,

united to me by the tenderest bands of love; my sweet companion, part of my

own self. My sister, by my Incarnation, which makes me bone of thy bone and

flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by heavenly betrothal, in which I have espoused

thee unto myself in righteousness. My sister, whom I knew of old, and over

whom I watched from her earliest infancy; my spouse, taken from among the

daughters, embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me forever. See how

true it is that our royal Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for he dwells with

manifest delight upon this two-fold relationship. We have the word “my” twice

in our version; as if Christ dwelt with rapture on his possession of his

Church. “His delights were with the sons of men,” because those sons of men

were his own chosen ones. He, the Shepherd, sought the sheep, because they

were his sheep; he has gone about “to seek and to save that which was lost,”

because that which was lost was his long before it was lost to itself or lost

to him. The church is the exclusive portion of her Lord; none else may claim a

partnership, or pretend to share her love. Jesus, thy church delights to have

it so! Let every believing soul drink solace out of these wells. Soul! Christ

is near to thee in ties of relationship; Christ is dear to thee in bonds of

marriage union, and thou art dear to him; behold he grasps both of thy hands

with both his own, saying, “My sister, my spouse.” Mark the two sacred

holdfasts by which thy Lord gets such a double hold of thee that he neither

can nor will ever let thee go. Be not, O beloved, slow to return the hallowed

flame of his love.