"The love of Christ:" not our love to Christ, but Christ's love to us. Not our love operating on our hearts, but the Divine love, the Divine power coming in and operating upon: our affections. May we not view this love in two ways:
(1) As a manifestation (2) As an indwelling principle.
"In this was manifested the love of God, in that He sent His - only: begotten Son into this world, that we might live through Him."' "We; have known and believed the love that God had toward us." Both texts indicate "manifested love."
Let us think briefly through this point. First of all as the banks give direction to that river, so the Jowe of Jesus Christ gives' definite faun and direction to the spiritual life. It turns us away from from selfish interests, from the world with all its allurements and enticements. It points to Christ, to things above where He sitteth, It sets our affections on Him so that each of us who is Christ's can truly say, "My heart is fixed, Eternal God, fixed on Thee: and my eternal choice is made—Christ] for me,"
But secondly, the constraining love of Christ gives concentration. The banks give to that river a concen: trated "power that it did—not formerly possess, so does the love} of Christ to our hearts and mit How often we fail in our service because of the lack of—this characteristic. How futile our work because we have not the spirit of our Lord when He said "My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me," or of His great Apostle, as he gave expression to. such thoughts as we have in these words, "This one thing T do," "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and. be found in Him," "To know Him, the power of His resurrection and. the fellowship of His sufferings," press: toward the mark for the. prize of the high calling of Ged in Christ Jesus," al} of which indicate a concentration heart and mind indispensable!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.