Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Brother! that is personal Christianity--to see Jesus Christ, and to
live with the thrilling consciousness, printed deep and abiding upon
our spirits, that, in very deed, He is by our sides. O how that
conviction would make life strong and calm and noble and blessed! How
it would lift us up above temptation! 'He endured as seeing Him who is
Invisible.' What should terrify us if Christ stood before us? What
should charm us if we saw Him? Competing glories and attractions would
fade before His presence, as a dim candle dies at noon. It would make
all life full of a blessed companionship. Who could be solitary if he
saw Christ? or feel that life was dreary if that Friend was by his
side? It would fill our hearts with joy and strength, and make us
evermore blessed by the light of His countenance.
And how are we to get that vision? Remember the connection of my text.
It is because there is a divine Spirit to show men the things that are
Christ's that therefore, unseen, He is visible to the eye of faith. And
therefore the shortest and directest road to the vision of Jesus is the
submitting of heart and mind and spirit to the teaching of that divine
Spirit, who uses the record of the Scriptures as the means by which He
makes Jesus Christ known to us.
But besides this waiting upon that divine Teacher, let me remind you
that there are conditions of discipline which must be fulfilled upon
our parts, if any clear vision of Jesus Christ is to bless us pilgrims
in this lonely world. And the first of these conditions is--If you want
to see Jesus Christ, think about Him. Occupy your minds with Him. If
men in the city walk the pavements with their eyes fixed upon the
gutters, what does it matter though all the glories of a sunset are
dyeing the western sky? They will see none of them; and if Christ stood
beside you, closer to you than any other, if your eyes were fixed upon
the trivialities of this poor present, you would not see Him. If you
honestly want to see Christ, meditate upon Him.
And if you want to see Him, shut out competing objects, and the
dazzling cross-lights that come in and hide Him from us. There must be
a 'looking _off_ unto Jesus.' There must be a rigid limitation, if not
excision, of other objects, if we are to grasp Him. If we would see,
and have our hearts filled with, the calm sublimity of the solemn,
white wedge that lifts itself into the far-off blue, we must not let
our gaze stop on the busy life of the valleys or the green slopes of
the lower Alps, but must lift it and keep it fixed aloft. Meditate upon
Him, and shut out other things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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