If I love God, I want to be holy as He is holy; the desire of sanctification has no limit at all. Isn't it wonderful that the effect of God in letting us know His plan of associating us with Himself hereafter, should be the desire for association with Him now? Hasn't Christ been revealing His love gradually to you, as you could contain it? Do you think He has no jealousy over you? Has He no desire to see your heart's affection linking itself around the God who has associated you with Himself? Does He not see the pulse of your thoughts rising towards Him? He, the Good Shepherd, is leading and watching every individual sheep; not one lock of wool is taken from a single sheep that He does not see. Does He see your mind taken up with unceasing thoughts of Himself and the glory awaiting you? Is your heart dwelling there and your walk corresponding; or, like Jacob, are you halting on the thigh because the flesh needs crippling?
God has spread an expanse of glory, all wrapped up in Christ for us. Are our hearts there? God has described and told us of the golden city where Christ is the light and the joy of all there. He would have us occupied with that which is the center of His thoughts, and that is Christ. Are you following in His wake? Is His Christ the center of our thoughts, and the hope of His coming connected with every motive and act? There may be failure; there may be discouragement down here, but He won't let me shake off that hope. What is your hope for tomorrow? Does your mind long for that future day, as His does? A poor feeble reflection it may be, but it must be a hope having its spring from that which is the center of God's thoughts, and that is Christ.
Has it ever entered your mind what sort of thrill the delight of God in Christ must cause in heaven? And is it indeed true that we are accepted in the Beloved, and that God loves us as He loves Christ, because we are in Him and He is in us? What in you can interfere with the delight of God in His Son? His delight in believers is not in themselves, but in connection with Christ and redemption. His blood has washed all my sins away, my soul is in Him-one with Him-all my guilt and misery judged on the cross. Oh, it makes one feel very little; it sinks one into insignificance, Christ being everything; God looking on His Son with ever the same delight, seeing the members of His body, and loving them as such! It is pure grace from first to last.