The Mind of Jesus Part 2

Jesus stands out for our imitation a grand solitary exception in the midst of a world of selfishness. His entire life was one abnegation of self; a beautiful living embodiment of that charity which "seeketh not her own." He who for others turned water into wine, and provided a miraculous supply for the fainting thousands in the wilderness, exerted no such miraculous power for His own necessities. During His forty days'

temptation, no table did He spread for Himself, no booth did He rear for his unpillowed head. Twice do we read of Him shedding tears--on neither occasion were they for Himself. The approach of His cross and pa.s.sion, instead of absorbing Him in His own approaching suffering, seemed only to elicit new and more gracious promises to His people. When His enemies came to apprehend Him, His only stipulation was for His disciples'

release--"Let these go their way." In the very act of departure, with all the boundless glories of eternity in sight, _they_ were still all His care.

Ah, how different is the spirit of the world! With how many is day after day only a new oblation to that idol which never darkened with its shadow His Holy heart; pampering their own wishes; "envying and grieving at the good of a neighbor;" unable to brook the praise of a rival; establis.h.i.+ng their own reputation on the ruins of another; thus engendering jealousy, discontent, peevishness, and every kindred unholy pa.s.sion.

"But ye have not so learned Christ!" Reader! have you been sitting at the feet of Him who "pleased not Himself"? Are you "dying daily;"--dying to self as well as to sin? Are you animated with _this_ as the high end and aim of existence--to lay out your time, and talents, and opportunities, for G.o.d's glory, and the good of your fellow-men; not seeking your own interests, but rather ceding these, if, by doing so, another will be made happier, and your Saviour honored? You may not have it in your power to manifest this "mind of Jesus" on a great scale, by enduring great sacrifices; nor is this required. His denial of self had about it no repulsive austerity; but you can evince its holy influence and sway by innumerable little offices of kindness and good-will; taking a generous interest in the welfare and pursuits of others, or engaging and cooperating in schemes for the mitigation of human misery.

Avoid _ostentation_--another repulsive form of self. Be willing to be in the shade; sound no trumpet before you. The evangelist Matthew made a great feast, which was graced by the presence of Jesus; in his Gospel he says not one word about it!

Seek to live more constantly and habitually under the constraining influence of the love of Jesus. Selfishness withers and dies beneath Calvary.

Ah, believer! if Christ had "pleased Himself," where wouldst _thou_ have _been_ this day?

"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."

Eighth Day.

SUBMISSION TO G.o.d'S WORD.

"Jesus said unto him, It is written."--Matt. iv. 7.

We can not fail to be struck, in the course of the Saviour's public teaching, with His constant appeal to the word of G.o.d. While, at times, He utters, in His own name, the authoritative behest, "Verily, verily, I say unto you," He as often thus introduces some mighty work, or gives intimation of some impending event in His own momentous life, "These things must come to pa.s.s, that _the Scriptures be fulfilled, which saith_." He commands His people to "search the Scriptures;" but He sets the example by searching and submitting to them Himself. Whether he drives the money-changers from their sacrilegious traffic in the temple, or foils his great adversary on the mount of temptation, he does so with the same weapon, "_It is written._" When He rises from the grave, the theme of His first discourse is one impressive tribute to the value and authority of the same sacred oracles. The disciples on the road to Emmaus listen to nothing but a _Bible lesson_. "He expounded unto them in all _the Scriptures_ the things concerning Himself."

How momentous the instruction herein conveyed! The necessity of the absolute subjection of the mind to G.o.d's written Word--making churches, creeds, ministers, books, religious opinion, all subordinate and subservient to this--"How readest thou?" rebuking the philosophy, falsely so called, that would distort the plain statements of Revelation, and bring them to the bar of proud Reason.

If an infallible Redeemer, "a law to Himself," was submissive in all respects to the "_written_ law," shall fallible man refuse to sit with the teachableness of a little child, and listen to the Divine message?

There may be, there _is_, in the Bible, what reason staggers at: "we have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." But, "_Thus saith the Lord_," is enough. Faith does not first ask what the bread is made of, but _eats_ it. It does not a.n.a.lyse the components of the living stream, but with joy draws the water from "the wells of salvation."

Reader! take that Word as "the lamp to thy feet, and the light to thy path." In days when false lights are hung out, there is the more need of keeping the eye steadily fixed on the unerring beacon. Make the Bible the arbiter in all difficulties--the ultimate court of appeal. Like Mary, "sit at the feet of Jesus," willing only to learn of Him. How many perplexities it would save you! how many fatal steps in life it would prevent--how many tears! "It is a great matter," says the n.o.blest of modern Christian philosophers, "when the mind dwells on any pa.s.sage of Scripture, just to think _how true it is_." (_Chalmers' Life_).

In every dubious question, when the foot is trembling on debatable ground, knowing not whether to advance or recede, make this the final criterion, "What saith the Scripture?" The world may remonstrate--erring friends may disapprove--Satan may tempt--ingenious arguments may explain away; but, with our finger on the revealed page, let the words of our Great Example be ever a Divine formula for our guidance:--"_This_ commandment have I received of my Father!"

"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."

Ninth Day.

PRAYERFULNESS.

"He continued all night in prayer to G.o.d."--Luke, vi. 12.

We speak of _this_ Christian and _that_ Christian as "a man of prayer."

Jesus was emphatically so. The Spirit was "poured upon Him without measure," yet--_He prayed_! He was incarnate wisdom, "needing not that any should teach Him." He was infinite in His power, and boundless in His resources, yet--_He prayed_! How deeply sacred the prayerful memories that hover around the solitudes of Olivet and the sh.o.r.es of Tiberias! He seemed often to turn night into day to redeem moments for prayer, rather than lose the blessed privilege.

We are rarely, indeed, admitted into the solemnities of His inner life.

The veil of night is generally between us and the Great High Priest, when He entered "the holiest of all;" but we have enough to reveal the depth and fervor, the tenderness and confidingness of this blissful intercommunion with His heavenly Father. No morning dawns without His fetching fresh manna from the mercy-seat. "He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." (Isa. l. 4).

Beautiful description!--a praying Redeemer, wakening, as if at early dawn, the ear of His Father, to get fresh supplies for the duties and the trials of the day! All His public acts were consecrated by prayer,--His baptism, His transfiguration, His miracles, His agony, His death. He breathed away His spirit in prayer. "His last breath," says Philip Henry, "was praying breath."

How sweet to think, in holding communion with G.o.d--_Jesus_ drank of this very brook! He consecrated the bended knee and the silent chamber. He refreshed His fainting spirit at the same great Fountain-head from which it is life for us to draw and death to forsake.

Reader! do you complain of your languid spirit, your drooping faith, your fitful affections, your lukewarm love? May you not trace much of what you deplore to an unfrequented chamber? The treasures are locked up from you, because you have suffered the key to rust; the hands hang down because they have ceased to be uplifted in prayer. Without prayer!--It is the pilgrim without a staff--the seaman without a compa.s.s--the soldier going unarmed and unharnessed to battle.

Beware of encouraging what indisposes to prayer--going to the audience chamber with soiled garments, the din of the world following you, its distracting thoughts hovering unforbidden over your spirit. Can you wonder that the living water refuses to flow through obstructed channels, or the heavenly light to pierce murky vapors!

On earth, fellows.h.i.+p with a lofty order of minds imparts a certain n.o.bility to the character; so, in a far higher sense, by communion with G.o.d you will be transformed into His image, and get a.s.similated to His likeness. Make every event in life a reason for fresh going to Him. If difficulted in duty, bring it to the test of prayer. If bowed down with antic.i.p.ated trial,--"fearing to enter the cloud,"--remember Christ's preparation, "Sit ye here while I go and _pray_ yonder."

Let prayer consecrate every thing--your time, talents, pursuits, engagements, joys, sorrows, crosses, losses. By it, rough paths will be made smooth, trials disarmed of their bitterness, enjoyments hallowed and refined, the bread of the world turned into angels' food. "It is in the closet," says Payson, "the battle is lost or won!"

"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."

Tenth Day.

LOVE TO THE BRETHREN.

"And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us."--Eph. v. 2.

"Jesus," says a writer, "came from heaven on the wings of love." It was the element in which he moved and walked. He sought to baptize the world afresh with it. When we find Him teaching us by love to vanquish an _enemy_, we need not wonder at the tenderness of His appeals to the _brethren_ to "love one another." Like a fond father impressing his children, how the Divine Teacher lingers over the lesson, "This is _My_ commandment!"

If selfishness had guided His actions, we might have expected him to demand all His people's love for himself. But He claims no such monopoly. He not only encourages mutual affection, but He makes it the badge of disciples.h.i.+p! He gives them at once its measure and motive.

"Love one another, as I have loved you!" What a love was that!--it reached to the lowliest and humblest,--"Inasmuch as ye did it to the _least_ of these, ye did it unto _Me_."

Ah! if such was the Elder Brother's love to His younger brethren, what should the love of these younger brothers be for one another! How humbling that there should be so much that is sadly and strangely unlike the spirit which our blessed Master sought to inculcate alike by precept and example! Individual Christians, why these bitter estrangements, these censorious words, these harsh judgments, this want of kind consideration of the feelings and failings of those who may differ from you? Why are your friends.h.i.+ps so often like the summer brook, soon dried? You hope, ere long, to meet in glory. Doubtless when you enter on that "sabbath of love," many a greeting will be this, "Alas! my brother, that on earth I did not love thee more!"

Do you see the image of G.o.d in a professing believer? It is your duty to love him for the sake of that image. No church, no outward livery, no denominational creed, should prevent your owning and claiming him as a fellow-pilgrim and fellow-heir. It has been said of a portrait, however poor the painting, however unfinished the style, however faulty the touches, however coa.r.s.e and unseemly the frame, yet if the _likeness_ be faithful, we overlook many subordinate defects. So it is with the Christian: however plain the exterior, however rough the setting, or even manifold the blemishes still found cleaving to a partially-sanctified nature, yet if the Redeemer's _likeness_ be feebly and faintly traced there, we should love the copy for the sake of the Divine Original. There may be other bonds of a.s.sociation and intercourse linking spirit with spirit; family ties, mental congenialities, intellectual tastes, philanthropic pursuits; but that which ought to take the precedence of all, is the love of G.o.d's image in the brethren.

What will heaven be but this love perfected--loving Christ, and beloved by those who love Him?

Reader! seek to love _Him_ more, and you will love His people more. John had more love than the other disciples. Why? He drank deepest of the love within that Bosom on which he delighted to lean, every beat of which was love. "Walk," then, "in love!" Let it be the very foot-road you tread; let your way to heaven be paved with it. Soon shall we come to look within the portal. Then shall every jarring and dissonant note be merged into the sublime harmonies of "the new heavens and the new earth," and we shall all "see eye to eye!"

"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."

Eleventh Day.

SYMPATHY.

"Jesus wept."--John, xi. 35.