Your whole life, dear young saint, in all of its giving and doing, its sacrifices and prayers, its humble service and devotion, is to be constantly sending forth a sweet smell to God. This is spoken of in a beautiful figure in S. of Sol. 1:12: "While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof." The king is Jesus, who sits at the table of our hearts; the sweet spikenard is our Christian lives. In Rev. 3:20 Jesus says, "I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." The Christian's heart is the dining-room; there is a table spread with the graces of the Spirit, the fruits of the garden of the Lord. There Christ and the Christian sit down to dine together. While the glory of the one lights up the room, the holy life of the other perfumes it. O God, my soul doth magnify thee for the preciousness of these thoughts.
When Christ was born wise men came and presented him frankincense and myrrh, and in after-years Mary came and poured upon his head the precious ointment of spikenard. These things were literally done, and now when we bring our very best gifts, in the fulness of love, to the Lord, we are breaking the alabaster box of sweet ointment and pouring it upon his head. You owe Christ the very best of your life; yea, you owe him your life. He must have all the affections of your heart. Christ must have the very best of everything out of your life. Do not use the dollars for yourself and give him the pennies. Do not sip the honey from the flower and give him the leaves. Do not eat the fresh bread yourself and give him that which is stale. Do not give him the well-worn garment and keep the best robe for yourself.
But how can we now give to the Lord! "As oft as ye do it unto the least of these ye do it unto me." As you go about your life work as a Christian always do what you do as to the Lord. When you pray in public talk to Jesus the same as if he were there in person, and not to be heard of men. When you give money to the needy do it as if you were giving it to Jesus himself, for such it really is. If Christ should come to your door and ask for a drink, how eagerly you would get it for him! You must remember that to give a cup of water to one of his little ones is the same as giving it to him. When you visit a sick-chamber and are invited to sing you should sing just as sweetly as if you were singing purposely for the Savior, and all your words should be spoken as tenderly as if you were talking to him.
Jesus has given you the purest love of heaven; he has clothed you with the whitest robe; he gives you the very best heaven affords; and, O beloved, will you not give him the very best life? Live with all your soul for Jesus; serve him every moment. Bring the best of your life, its love, its service, its perfume, and pour them upon the head and feet of Jesus.
THE TREE OF LIFE.
"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life," says Proverbs. How wonderful! how inspiring! The fruit borne by a Christian is a savor of life to many. If you live a true Christian life all the way through, God will use the fruit you bear to bring another soul to life. Your Christian life will not be lived in vain. That "beloved disciple" said, "On either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month." Your life is compared to a river; and if you travel along down its course in the fulness of God's grace, upon its banks will grow the tree of life, of which others may eat and live forever. Such thoughts are almost too wonderful for me; they overwhelm my soul.
Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," and, "He that eateth of this bread shall live forever." This same Jesus has come into your life. You are dead, but Jesus lives. He lives in you. The fruit you bear will be eaten by others and be life to their souls. O my young reader, will you not be watchful and prayerful and let God live in you and bring forth fruit to his own glory? Cultivate the Christian graces, and see to it that there is never a withered leaf on your life's tree, but be ever green and full of fruit, scattering a holy influence everywhere. May your life stand out upon the shores of time heavy laden with the fruits of the Spirit, of which others may eat long after you are gone to your reward. You can make it so. Will you do it? As for me, from the fulness of my soul I answer, I WILL.