To the true Christian, Christ is the object of his life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the haven of his Savior’s bosom. As flies the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus. As the soldier fights for his captain, and is crowned in his captain’s victory, so the believer contends for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master. “For him to live is Christ;” — at least, it is this he seeks after, and counts that all life apart from this is merely death in another form. That wicked flesh of his, that cumbrous clay, those many temptations, that Satanic trinity or the world, the flesh, and the devil, all these mar his outward actions; but if he could be what he would be, he would stand like the bullock at Christ’s altar to be slaughtered, or march forward like a bullock in Christ’s furrow to plough the blood-bought field.
He desires that he may not have a hair of his head unconsecrated, nor heave one breath which is not for his Savior, nor speak one word which is not for the glory of his Lord. His heart’s ambition is to live so long as he can glorify Christ better on earth than in heaven, and to be taken up when it shall be better for him and more honorable for his Master that he should be with Jesus where he is. As the river seeks the sea, so, Jesus, seek I thee! O let me find thee and melt my life into thine for ever!
From a sermon entitled "Christ Our Life - Soon To Appear," delivered February 26, 1865. Image by Ville Miettinen under Creative Commons License.
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