Paul had Christ in the power of the eternal life so ruling every desire and thought, that with a chain on his foot and hand, all he thinks of is that Christ should be magnified by it. It was Christ for whom he was suffering; he knew that he was borne on the heart of Christ; he felt His love; he had tasted it; he could say, "Did not He come and tell me that He would go with me to Rome? Did not He give me a word when all were in despair, to make the people in the ship know that my God was everything to me?"
Is there in us that singleness of eye, that earnest desire, to live Christ, saying, "Till He comes I want Him to be shining out from me"? Some say it more than others. The Lord will some day have to put many into the furnace to destroy what is of the world in them. How blessed if any were so walking that persons could say, "In looking at the walk of that individual I see more of Christ than I ever before knew." But if conscious of being under the eye of Christ, we know that He is taking notice of everything. Paul knew the eye of One to be upon him whose love would not let a single circumstance pass unnoticed. If I realize that, it becomes the molding process of His love on me.
Sorrows and trials are not only like the sand and grit that polish a stone, but I shall be made to taste, through the trouble, what Christ is to me.
If an angel from heaven were to come to my bedside and tell me that Christ was occupied with me as a member of His body, should I be more certain of that love than I am? It is no delusion, but a fact, that Christ loves me, and will love me right on to the end; and He will not cease making me know it till He gets me into the Father's house to be eternally in the full fruition of it.