Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. JohnMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. Ephesians -- Commentaries; Bible. Epistle of John, 1st -- Commentaries; Bible. Peter -- Commentaries
For love has a strange power of divining love's wishes, as we all know,
and as many a sweetness in the hearts and lives of many of us has shown
us. If we cherish sympathy with Jesus Christ we shall look on things as
He looks on them, and we shall not be left without the knowledge of what
His pleasure is. If we keep near enough to Him the glance of His eye
will do for guidance, as the old psalm has it. They are rough animal
natures that do not understand how to go, unless their instructors be
the crack of the whip or the tug of the bridle. 'I will guide thee with
Mine eye.' A glance is enough where there are mutual understanding and
love. Two musical instruments in adjoining rooms, tuned to the same
pitch, have a singular affinity, and if a note be struck on the one the
other will vibrate to the sound. And so hearts here that love Jesus
Christ and keep in unison with Him, and are sympathetic with His
desires, will learn to know His will, and will re-echo the music that
comes from Him. And if our supreme desire is to know what pleases Jesus
Christ, depend upon it the desire will not be in vain, 'If any man wills
to do His will he shall know of the doctrine.' Ninety per cent. of all
our perplexities as to conduct come from our not having a pure and
simple wish to do what is right in His sight, clearly supreme above all
others. When we have that wish it is never left unsatisfied.
And even if sometimes we do make a mistake as to what is Christ's
pleasure, if our supreme wish and honest aim in the mistake have been to
do His pleasure, we may be sure that He will be pleased with the deed.
Even though its body is not that which He willed us to do, its spirit is
that which He does desire. And if we do a wrong thing, a thing in itself
displeasing to Him, whilst all the while we desired to please Him, we
shall please Him in the deed which would otherwise have displeased Him.
And so two Christian men, for instance, who take opposite sides in a
controversy, may both of them be doing what is well-pleasing in His
sight, whilst they are contradicting one another, if they are doing it
for His sake. And it is possible that the inquisitor and his victim may
both have been serving Christ. At all events, let us be sure of this,
that whensoever we desire to please Him, He will help us to do it, and
ordinarily will help us by making clear to us the path on which His
smile rests.
III. Again, notice that we have here an all-powerful motive for
Christian life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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