"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us."—Eph. 5:2.
"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 discipleship! He gave 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 you did it to the least of these, you 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 lack of kind consideration of
the feelings and failings of those who may differ from you? Why are your
friendships so often like the summer brook, soon dried? You hope, before 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 you
more!"
Do you see the image of God 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 coarse 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 association and
communion 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 God'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."