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A Voluntary Sacrifice, February 6
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:20
.
How earnestly Christ prosecuted the work of our salvation! What
devotion His life revealed as He sought to give value to fallen man by
imputing to every repenting, believing sinner the merits of His spotless
righteousness! How untiringly He worked! In the Temple and the syna-
gogue, in the streets of the cities, in the market place, in the workshop,
by the seaside, among the hills, He preached the gospel and healed the
sick. He gave all there was of Himself, that He might work out the plan
of redeeming grace.
Christ was under no obligation to make this great sacrifice. Voluntarily
He pledged Himself to bear the punishment due to the transgressor of His
law. His love was His only obligation, and without a murmur He endured
every pang and welcomed every indignity that was part of the plan of
salvation.
The life of Christ was one of unselfish service, and His life is our
lesson book. The work that He began we are to carry forward. With His
life of toil and sacrifice before them, can those who profess His name
hesitate to deny self, to lift the cross and follow Him? He humbled Himself
to the lowest depths that we might be lifted to the heights of purity and
holiness and completeness. He became poor that He might pour into our
poverty-stricken souls the fullness of His riches. He endured the cross of
shame, that He might give us peace and rest and joy and make us partakers
of the glories of His throne....
Should we not give back to God all that He has redeemed, the affec-
tions He has purified, and the body that He has purchased, to be kept unto
sanctification and holiness? ...
True Christianity diffuses love through the whole being. It touches
every vital part—the brain, the heart, the helping hands, the feet—enabling
men to stand firmly where God requires them to stand.... We can,
we
can
, reveal the likeness of our divine Lord. We can know the science of
spiritual life. We can glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which
are His.
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