But remember, I beseech you, that this love of God is explained by
our Apostle to be 'in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Love illimitable,
all-pervasive, eternal; yes, but a love which has a channel and a
course; love which has a method and a process by which it pours
itself over the world. It is not, as some representations would make
it, a vague, nebulous light diffused through space as in a chaotic
half-made universe, but all gathered in that great Light which rules
the day--even in Him who said: 'I am the Light of the world.' In
Christ the love of God is all centred and embodied, that it may be
imparted to all sinful and hungry hearts, even as burning coals are
gathered on a hearth that they may give warmth to all that are in the
house. 'God _so_ loved the world'--not merely _so much_, but in _such
a fashion_--'that'--that what? Many people would leap at once from
the first to the last clause of the verse, and regard eternal life
for all and sundry as the only adequate expression of the universal
love of God. Not so does Christ speak. Between that universal love
and its ultimate purpose and desire for every man He inserts two
conditions, one on God's part, one on man's. God's love reaches its
end, namely, the bestowal of eternal life, by means of a divine act
and a human response. 'God _so_ loved the world, that He _gave_ His
only begotten Son, that whosoever _believeth_ in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.' So all the universal love of God
for you and me and for all our brethren is 'in Christ Jesus our
Lord,' and faith in Him unites us to it by bonds which no foe can
break, no shock of change can snap, no time can rot, no distance can
stretch to breaking. 'For I am persuaded, that neither death nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.'
THE SACRIFICE OF THE BODY
'I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.'--ROMANS xii. 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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