The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

1
84 REPEATED SIN AND
He was going to spend his recovered life upon
himself, and did not hold himself under any obligation
to side with the cause of his healer. When
Jesus warned him, he knew at once that this selfish
timidity was the first vice he had to pluck up by
the roots. Sin always begins deep down under the
surface of the life, and it was making a new incursion
into this poor man's soul.
The admonition which supplemented this
miracle
is at one with the Master's teaching to all His disciples,
whatever the kind of good they had received at His
hands. Devotion to Himself and His cause must be
expressed on the very threshold of discipleship in
unfaltering confession, and by a
love which surpasses
the instinctive attachment we feel to our earthly
benefactors and friends. Otherwise, there can be no
true obedience to those high moralities of His
kingdom which sum up and transcend all other
moralities. The lack of such devotion is a peril to
all who are awake to the moral failures of the past,
and who in some moment of providential opportunity
have found in Jesus the hope of redemption.
Let us
beware of an)- presumed acceptance of the benefits
of Christ's work, which does not issue in fervent
gratitude,
enlarged knowledge, and the open avowal
of our Benefactor, for recipiency unattended by such
tempers is illusory and impermanent.
If we appreciate
the debt under which we are placed to the compassionate
ministry of Jesus Christ, we shall be thankful.
And
if we are thankful, we shall be so interested in our
Benefactor that we shall seek to learn all that is
possible about Him, and shall be watching for every
opportunity of turning our guesses into knowledge