All is utter vanity here beneath the sun. Solomon, the wisest of men, with more wisdom than all others have possessed, learned it long ago (Ecclesiastes); but men are very slow to believe him in our day. What can be clearer than that to live without Christ, and to die in our sins (John 8:24) is loss for eternity. And to live for self, or with selfish motives and objects, when we are His (1 Cor. 6:19, 20), is just a wasted life.
Christianity, in one word, is "Christ" displacing "I" (Gal. 2:20). "I" rules in the world. "Christ" should rule in all in the Christian. "To me to live is Christ," said the Apostle (Phil. 1:21). It is not merely a question of denying self in this or that, but occupied with Christ and the things above, self is forgotten, and we become unselfish, and then all is simple and easy. Neither is it a question of giving up for Christ, but having Christ, we are infinite gainers now and forever (Phil. 3:4-15). In Him we have all, and it becomes a positive hindrance and weight to hold to things here. A Christian that is really singleeyed, living Christ, is the most independent man in the world. Loving God, all things work together for his good (Rom. 8:28). And dependent on God alone, he becomes independent of men. He walks by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). A thousand things that the natural heart loves and craves for lose their attraction. He is already satisfied with Christ, and has no room for them. But as sure as Christ is not the one Object, all-absorbing, the heart turns to something here. Alas! have we not all to mourn more or less that this is often the case?
If the compass does not point to the north, there is something wrong, and the ship will go astray on the wild waters. And if the compass of our hearts, so to speak, does not point to Christ, depend upon it that sooner or later we shall drift with some current in the world to our sorrow. A beloved Christian once said, "The world is not big enough for the heart of man, but Christ is too big." This witness is true. Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon are the proofs.
It is the superior attraction of the Person of Christ, rejected here and glorified above, that draws souls truly to an outside place on the earth in faithfulness to Him; and the mixed religion and ways of professing Christendom are left in the rear.