February 29

And knew the grace of God in truth. - Colossians 1:6.

THE grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ cannot be known in truth, without producing in us corresponding effects. It will excite our application to him; we shall be found at his feet, praying, “Heal me, for I have sinned against thee.” It will excite our admiration, and with angels we shall desire to look into these things.

How surprising his condescension, how matchless his mercy! It baffles all description, it defies all wonder; it sets even astonishment at a stand. The mind never feels its insignificance so much as when it is contemplating the heights and depths and lengths and breadths of the Saviour’s love, which passeth knowledge. This knowledge will also teach us to love him. It will make us truly grateful, and we shall ask, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?” It will lead us to devotedness to his service, and we shall pour forth the warmest emotions of our souls, and ask daily, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” It will excite us to imitate him, to be like-minded with him, and to walk even as he walked. And while we reflect on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that “though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich,” we shall deem nothing too humiliating, nothing too arduous to engage in for his sake on the behalf of others.

Blessed Jesus, thy heart was made of tenderness! Thou went about doing good. In thee the disconsolate always found a comforter, the ignorant an instructor, and the lost a Saviour. Oh that we may resemble thee! Oh that we may have the same mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus!