Love to the Uttermost: Expositions of John XIII.-XXI.Meyer, F. B. (Frederick Brotherton)
Religion
Love to the Uttermost: Expositions of John XIII.-XXI.
Meyer, F. B. (Frederick Brotherton)
Bible. John -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Note the _method_ of the Holy Spirit. He teaches truth by taking of
the things of Christ and revealing them. There are two methods of
teaching children, by precept, and by example. I go into a schoolroom
one summer afternoon, and remark the hot cheeks and tired eyes of the
little ones. Outside the open window the bees are droning past, the
butterflies flit from flower to flower, and nature seems to cry to the
little hearts, "Come and play with me." Does a garden ever look so
beautiful as to children shut up to their studies? "What are you
learning, little ones?" I say. "Botany," is the sad answer "We've got
to learn all these hard names, and copy these diagrams." "Well," I
say, "shut up your books, and come with me." And presently I teach
them more botany by contact with the flowers themselves, than they
would have learned by hours of poring over lesson-books. It is so the
Spirit teaches. Is gentleness or purity, self-sacrifice or prayer, the
lesson that we are set to acquire? There is no need for Him to make a
new revelation to us. It is enough if He but bring us face to face
with Jesus, and show these qualities shining through His words and
deeds. The truth certainly, but the truth as it is in Jesus.
The condition of proficiency in the Spirit's school is _obedience_.
"He will _guide_ you into all truth." This word is very significant.
Literally it means, _Show the way_. Ordinarily men ask to know the
truth before they obey. The Spirit demands that they should obey
before they know. Let me know the outcome of this act; its philosophy,
its reasonableness, its result, then I will obey. But the Spirit
answers, "It is enough for thee, O child of man, to know Me. Canst
thou not trust? Wilt thou not obey? And as thou obeyest thou shalt
know. Take this path, plod along its difficult way, climb where it
climbs, so shalt thou ascend the steep of obedience, and at each step a
further horizon of the truth will open outspread beneath thee."
Let us be more sensitive to the guidance of the Spirit, following
whithersoever He clearly indicates, as when the Spirit said to Philip,
"Go, join thyself to this chariot." We shall know when we follow on to
know the Lord. His going forth is prepared for those who are prepared
to obey whatsoever He may appoint.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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