JUNE 8TH, 1896
JUNE 8TH, 1896
it is the heart’s delight to think of Him in His all-varied excellence and beauty.
If this apprehension of His love is maintained in power it speedily leads to what I call the second step of affection. That is, the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. All believers will admit this, but it is another thing to reach it in affection. I may acknowledge the right of the Lord Jesus to command me — he would be a strange Christian who would not — but this does not bring in any power if I do not reach it in affection. His lordship is not a measure of duty or responsibility alone; it is a claim acquired by love and gladly rendered by love. To use again the language of the song, Jesus is owned as Lord when the heart says: “I am my Beloved’s”. I belong to Him, He has a right to me; and this not merely because of the righteous claim which redemption has given Him, but because of the love of His heart. He has paid the full price, but the love that paid is greater than the price. He loved me; He would have me for Himself. When this love is known it produces true devotedness, and maintains the heart in pure and holy liberty.
If the foregoing steps were taken a third would be quickly reached — the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company. “His desire is towards me”. Love’s delight is found in the company of its object. It is to secure this that He acts as our Priest — lifting us above the pressure here that we may join Him in the sanctuary. For this He washes our feet to free us from the influences of the present scene around us so that we may have part with Him who has gone to the Father. To this end He is presented to us by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures and in all true ministry, that our hearts may be drawn away from the place where He is not to the scene of His exaltation and glory. He wants our company. His love delights to share with us the joys of that blessed world — to make us familiar with the Father’s house even now — in a word, to have us near Himself. May we know in a deeper way, and in fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with “the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me”.
(From a manuscript book.)