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FOR JESUS’ SAKE

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 24, 1867

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 31, No. 2.

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“FOR JESUS’ SAKE.”

We love him because he first loved us, and we serve him because he first served us. We are Christians now in consequence of his love and service for us. There are many reasons why we should obey the will of God, but none so potent as that embraced in the words, “For Jesus sake.” It was by the love of Christ that our hearts were melted, and we constrained to yield to the ministry of his grace. It was from drinking at the fountain of his divine fullness that we were enabled to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Why do we love and labor in the cause of religion if it be not for the love we bear him who first loved us? It is possible that we may try to be Christians from the lowest motives. Many an act, which to the world appears fair and good, is, in reality, the result of a selfish purpose. Sometimes mere habit leads us to the outward performance of worship. Some feel that they must be connected with the Church because it is respectable. Multitudes travel in the path of outward duty from the most sordid and unspiritual motives.
The fire never burns in such hearts, love never sparkles in their eyes.
To be a disciple of the highest style, our motives must be of the most spiritual order—love for Christ. We call to mind the mutual love of Damon and Pythias—was their love for each other as high and pure as our love for the Saviour? Unless we seek him by spiritual service, we will be unable to bear the burdens of life. Let the soul feel and believe that “for me the Saviour died,” and there will be a constant joy and support. Am I afflicted, and shall I not, with the wondrous cross before my eyes, bear it patiently, if not cheerfully? Am I persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and shall I not endure it “for his sake” “that endured such contradiction of sinners” “for my sake!” Can you, dear disciple, follow the Master? Can you bear, Christ-like, to be mocked, persecuted, and spit upon?
Have you learned how to suffer for him? Has your close adherence to Christ enabled you to see the fingers of his providence guiding all the threads of your life? Do you truly feel that all things work together for good to them that love God?
This, then, is the key to wind the spring of our lives with—the love of Christ. With Paul, then, we may say, “For me to live is Christ”—to labor in his vineyard, to suffer his afflictive dispensations—all, all shall be done or suffered “for Jesus’ sake.”—Methodist.