If you read the epistle to the Philippians you will find:
In chapter 1, Christ is the Life;
In chapter 2, Christ is the Pattern;
In chapter 3, Christ is the Object;
In chapter 4, Christ is the Power.
There we find Christ the Motive, Power, and Object of the Christian life. What more can be needed?
There is a new motive—not self, but Christ. A new power—not natural energy, but Christ. And a new, blessed, and worthy Object to command my entire life—not my poor, ignoble interests, but a living, loving, glorified Savior.
"One thing I do," said the Apostle Paul; "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Paul was a man of like passions with us, but his heart was so intense, and His pursuit so keen, that none of these things around moved him; neither did he count his life dear unto him, so that he might finish his course with joy. Happy man! Bright, victorious witness!
I am persuaded that wretched difficulties which appear before Christians, are but the phantoms of half-hearted indecision, and that they would vanish like vapor if they had but the moral courage for gracious refusal of all that is of the world.
Go and bathe your heart, dear friend, in the ocean fullness of His love. Let it be suffused by and satisfied with the story of His grace; and then seek that you henceforth may be marked by one bright idea-the glory of Him who died for you and rose again.