Honouring Jesus
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The crowning blessing accruing from this sacred privilege is—the praise, honor, and glory it will bring to Jesus. To secure this as its end were worth embarking in any labor, with any self-denial, and at any cost. To plant one gem in His crown—to blend one note in the anthem of His praise—to add one beam to the sun of His glory—oh!—ten thousand lives spent, ten thousand deaths endured, were as nothing! Conceive, if it be possible, what a continuous revenue of glory is accruing to Jesus from your constant habit of conferring with Him—communing with Him—drawing from Him in all the minute concerns of daily life.
Each occasion that you repair to confess at His cross—to draw from His fullness—to lay your grief upon His sympathy—to confide in His counsel—to repose in His love, and to spread around you the adamant shield of His power, you place a fresh diadem upon His head—that head that will before long appear in the clouds of heaven, wearing and radiant with His “many crowns.”
Live in the constant expectation of soon seeing Him face to face—conversing with whom here below, cheered, beguiled, and sweetened many a weary step of your Christian pilgrimage. That moment is speeding on. In a little while and all that now wounds and ruffles, tempts and pollutes, will have disappeared like the foam upon the billow, and you shall eternally repose your weary soul in the bosom of Jesus.
A little while to wear the robe of sadness,
To walk with weary feet through thorny ways,
Then to pour forth the fragrant oil of gladness,
And clasp the girdle round the robe of praise.
Are you reader, entering upon the New Year still unconverted? Oh! We beseech you, begin it with contrition, confession, and prayer at the Cross. Dare not to add another year of impenitence, unbelief, and sin to the many which have gone before to judgment. Seek the “washing of regeneration,” which is, “the renewing of the Holy Spirit,” without which you cannot enter into the kingdom of glory. Seek it with all your heart, and seek it NOW.
Forward, believer in Christ, to the toils, duties, and trials of another stage of life’s journey! Christ is enough for them all, and Christ will be with you in them all, and Christ will triumphantly conduct you through them all. Begin your year—telling Jesus; continue it—telling Jesus; close it—telling Jesus. Imitate the early Christians, who, at the termination of their day of labor, “gathered themselves unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.” Tell Jesus you have no grace but what He communicates—no strength but what He gives—no love but what He inspires—no sympathy but what He vouchsafes. Then will come His sweet and instant response: “Do you hang upon Me, My loved disciple, for all? Then all benediction shall be yours, and yours forever!”
One word before we close. Do not dishonor the Lord by repairing to human counsel and sympathy first, and that failing, then betake yourself to Him. Many Christians are ruled by this principle of making Christ secondary and subordinate to the creature, greatly to their own loss and His discredit. But in all things, in all teaching, in all service, in all obedience, yes, in all your ways, give Jesus the preeminence. He asks it—expects it—and is most worthy of it. Go and tell Jesus first. Make Him your confidant before the creature. The bereaved disciples betook themselves to no mere human sympathy. They went sad and lonely from the grave of their Master to the bosom of their Lord, and buried their sorrow in His loving, sympathizing heart. Imitate their Christ-honoring example.
Before you take counsel of man, or ask sympathy of friendship—before you confer and communicate with the dearest and nearest earthly friend—go and tell Jesus. Thus confiding in Him, He will return your confidence a thousand-fold. Pleased with your dependence, honored by your trust, and moved by your appeal, He will graciously respond: “You are My servant, I have chosen you, and not cast you away; fear you not; for I am with you: be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you: yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.” Enough! My gracious Lord! Enough! Arise, my soul! Go and Tell Jesus!
O Lord! How happy is the time,
When in Your love I rest;
When from my weariness I climb
Even to Your tender breast.
The night of sorrow ends there,
Your rays outshine the sun;
And in Your pardon, and Your care,
The heaven of heavens is won.
Let the world call itself my foe,
Or let the world allure;
I care not for the world—I go
To this tried Friend and sure.
And when life’s fiercest storms are sent
Upon life’s wildest sea,
My little bark is confident,
Because it holds by Thee.
When the law threatens endless death,
Upon the dreadful hill,
Straightway from its consuming breath
My soul mounts higher still;
She hastes to Jesus, wounded, slain,
And finds in Him her home,
Where she shall not go forth again,
And where no death can come.
I do not fear the wilderness,
Where You have been before;
No! Rather would I daily press
After You, near You, more!
You are my strength, on You I lean,
My heart You make sing;
And to Your pastures green at length
Your chosen flock will bring.
And if the gate that opens there
Be closed to other men,
It is not closed to those who share
The heart of Jesus then.
That is not losing much of life,
Which is not losing You,
Who are as present in the strife,
As in the victory!
Therefore, how happy is the time,
When in Your love I rest,
When from my weariness I climb,
Even to Your tender breast.
The night of sorrow ends there,
Your rays outshine the sun,
And in Your pardon and Your care,
The heaven of heavens is won!
(from the German of Dresler)
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