April 16, 1902

The Love of Christ for His Children

EGW

The love of Christ is a golden chain binding finite human beings to the infinite God. This love passes our knowledge. Human science can not explain it. Human wisdom can not fathom it. The more we feel the influence of this love, the more Christlike we shall be. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians was: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”ST April 16, 1902, par. 1

Writing to the church at Rome, Paul declares: “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”ST April 16, 1902, par. 2

The Lord's children are never absent from His mind. Even the birds are the objects of His tender solicitude. “Behold the fowls of the air,” Christ said; “for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” If the Lord cares for the birds, has He not a special care for those who believe in Him? His love and care flow earthward to His children. He knows us by name. He knows the very house in which we live, the name of each occupant. He has at times given directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to such a house, to find one of His children.ST April 16, 1902, par. 3

Every soul is as fully known to Jesus as if he were the only one for whom the Saviour died. The distress of every one touches His heart. The cry for aid reaches His ear. He came to draw all to Himself. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” He cares for each one as if there were not another on the face of the earth. Each child is loved by Him with a peculiar love.ST April 16, 1902, par. 4

To the disciples just before His crucifixion, Christ said, “He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to Him.” Jesus read the future of the disciples. He saw one brought to the scaffold, one to the cross, one to exile among the lonely rocks of the sea, others to persecution and death. He encouraged them with the promise that in every trial He would be with them. That promise has lost none of its force. The Lord knows all about His faithful servants who for His sake are lying in prison or who are banished to lonely islands. He comforts them with His own presence. When for the truth's sake the believer stands at the bar of unrighteous tribunals, Christ stands by his side. All the reproaches that fall on him, fall on Christ. Christ is condemned over again in the person of His disciple. When one is incarcerated in prison walls, Christ ravishes the heart with His love. When one suffers death for His sake, Christ says, “I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, ... and have the keys of hell and of death.” The life that is sacrificed for Me is preserved unto eternal glory.ST April 16, 1902, par. 5

Circumstances may separate friends; the restless waters of the wide sea may roll between us and them. But no circumstance, no distance, can separate us from the Comforter. Wherever we may be, He is at our right hand, to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer. Greater than the love of a mother for her child, is the Saviour's love for His redeemed. It is our privilege to rest in this love; to say, “I will trust Him; for He gave His life for me.”ST April 16, 1902, par. 6

Jesus is our strength and happiness. He is the great storehouse from which we may draw grace and power. How grieved He is when, after He has declared His willingness to help us, we withdraw our eyes from His sufficiency to behold and bemoan our weakness. We are to keep our eyes fixed upon Him. Has He not promised that His strength shall be made perfect in our weakness? Receiving and imparting His blessings, we grow in grace, increasing in strength and holiness.ST April 16, 1902, par. 7

For every service we perform, the Lord has pledged His word to reward us, not because it is a debt He owes us, but because His heart is full of love, full of mercy and tenderness. He promises to repay us a hundred-fold in this life, and in the world to come give us life everlasting. But how many there are who spend their days in gloom and discouragement, looking at the dark side of their experience, forgetting that angels of heaven are waiting to cooperate with them, waiting to make them channels of blessing to the world.ST April 16, 1902, par. 8

Listen to Christ's words of comfort, spoken to His sorrowing disciples, and to every sorrowing child of His; “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.ST April 16, 1902, par. 9

In words of tenderness Christ invites us; “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Lay all your cares upon Me, He says, I will carry them for you.ST April 16, 1902, par. 10

In these words Christ is speaking to every human being. Whether they know it or not, all are weary and heavy laden. All are weighed down with burdens that only Christ can remove. The heaviest burden that we bear is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this burden, it would crush us. But the sinless One has taken our place. “The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” He has borne the burden of our guilt. He will take the load from our weary shoulders. He will give us rest. The burden of our care and sorrow also He will bear. He invites us to cast our cares upon Him; for He carries us upon His heart. Not until we stand face to face with God, when we shall see as we are seen and know as we are known, shall we know how many burdens the Saviour has borne for us, and how many burdens He would have been glad to bear, had we brought them to Him.ST April 16, 1902, par. 11

The Elder Brother of our race is by the eternal throne. He looks upon every soul who is turning his face to Him as the Saviour. He knows by experience what are the weaknesses of humanity, what are our wants, and where lies the strength of our temptations; for “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” “Come unto Me,” is His invitation. The weaker and more helpless you know yourself to be, the stronger you will become in His strength. “In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.”ST April 16, 1902, par. 12

Human love may change, but Christ's love knows no change. When we cry to Him for help, His hand is stretched out to save. “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”ST April 16, 1902, par. 13

Mrs. E. G. White