How Is One to Know that He Is Living Close to God?
If we ask, in the name of his dear Son, for a daily infusion of strength and grace sufficient for our needs, he will grant our petition. Perhaps nowhere is the Christian life better expressed than in these lines from Professor David Smith. He is speaking of Christian duty: "The man who bravely goes his hard way by and by discovers God by his side. But there is a richer discovery--the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; and it is revealed through love of one's fellow creatures. Keep your heart sweet and gentle; refrain from contention; look with kindly and sympathetic eyes on your fellow creatures, men and beasts and birds; consider their griefs and sufferings, and lend them your best comfort and succor. It is only as we love like him that we know the wonder and glory of his love. There lies the twofold secret of reconciliation, of the linking of our little lives with the eternal order. Obey, and you will know; love, and the love of Christ will be shed abroad in your heart. And once the love of Christ takes possession of you, life will be more precious and wonderful in your eyes, and you will understand what St. Peter means by 'joy unspeakable and full of glory'-- that deep, strong gladness which comes of the persuasion that the ultimate fact in the universe is the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, the love which died on the cross for pity of the world's woe."
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