All For Christ # 3

All For Christ # 3

3. Do all for the GLORY of Christ. The passage, Colossians 3:17, "Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus," is well explained by the parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do - do all to the glory of God." Whatever is done, even in the commonest matters of life, the food we eat, our conduct at the table - is to be done for the glory of the Father and the Son. We must seek grace that "to live" may be "Christ, that He may be magnified in our bodies, whether by life or death." (Phil. 1:20, 21); that "the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in us" (2 Thess. 1:12).

Here is the very highest aim it is possible for man to cherish. No angel or archangel before the throne can rise to a loftier height. "To glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever," is Heaven on earth - and Heaven above. And this one desire will simplify a Christian's life, and give to it a unity and a beauty which nothing else could yield. Men are often swayed by a variety of motives, sometimes in a right direction, and sometimes the very reverse. Passion, or pleasure, or self-interest, or the desire for man's praise or favor, will actuate them in turns, so that there is no consistency about their conduct. But let a man ever set this before him: "What will most honor my Redeemer-King? What will bring glory to Him in the world? What will advance His kingdom? This I must do."

Let a man follow an object like this, and it will give a fixedness, a steadfastness to his walk, which will prove greatly in the end for his own true peace. It will at once solve many a difficulty, and direct a man in the course he should pursue. "To do all for the glory of Christ" will bring an immediate decision in most all cases. Self and ease and luxury will be sacrificed, and Christ will be honored.

4. Do all to PLEASE Christ. This is closely connected with acting for the glory of Christ; but it has a distinctness which it is well to bear in mind. Ever seek to please Christ! In once sense you ought to "please all men in all things; not seeking your own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." Whenever, for the good of others, you can deny yourself, or please them - fail not to do so. But to please Christ must be your chief desire. Though you may have to displease man, though you may have to risk hard words, unkind suspicions, ridicule, and persecution - yet if you please Christ it will be well. "Teach me to do the thing that pleases You, for You are my God!"

But how can you please Christ? Is it possible to please the Holy Saviour? Oh, yes, Christ is not hard to please! If only done in humble love, the least thing is pleasing to Him. The least gift you offer, the least upward glance of the heart, the effort to do common work as before Him, a word spoken by the way to guide a little one, to comfort a mourner - each and all is pleasing to Him when done with a single eye for His sake.

5. Do all in the PRESENCE of Christ. Nothing will help you more than this. Live ever seeing Him who is invisible. By His Spirit, He will manifest Himself to you, as He does not unto the world. "The world sees Him no more, but you see Him - and seeing Him ever near at hand, you shall better be able to please Him. To live ever as in the presence of Christ, seems to me to be the one special preservation against four great disturbers of the Christian peace. 

a. The fear of man. This is ever coming in to mar our usefulness. We are afraid of following that which conscience approves. We are afraid of confessing Christ, or standing alone in the reproof of sin, or speaking a word to win a soul for the Master. But if we see Christ by our side, we shall conquer. 

b. Wanderings in prayer. In church and in our chamber these enemies come in and disturb us. If, for a moment, the mind is fixed, the next instant some new imagination carries us miles away, and we are thinking of some indifferent thing. The best antidote is a more lively sense of Christ's nearness. When the soul truly sees Christ at hand, bowing down His merciful ear to catch each petition - then we speak in reality as a friend to a friend. Then, through the Holy Spirit, prayer is a comfort and a help, and we are conscious that our petitions reach the mercy-seat.

c. Evil tempters. There are few families where, in some shape, these intruders do not come. Sometimes like the thunderstorm, sometimes like the thick, depressing fog, sometimes like the drizzling rain, or the cold north wind - these enemies disturb our peace and grieve the Holy Spirit. It may be passions, or dead silence, or the perpetual monotony of complaint and bickering, or cutting satire, or the like, that does much harm to the soul of the one who indulges it, and puts no small stumbling-block in the way of others.

But realize Christ's presence, believe that He is in the room, and hears and marks each word and thought and feeling - and it will do much to enable you to overcome this sin. "Would you get into passion if I were in the room with you?" I once said to a Christian, who was complaining of his inability to overcome this snare. "Of course not," he said. "Then remember," I said, "that there is always Christ in the room with you, and this will help you." The thought was not lost on him. A year later he told me that since he had spoken to me, peace in his home had not been broken.

~George Everard~

(continued with # 4)