the Lord shall shine through you.

CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR

'For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His
steps.'--1 Peter ii. 21.

These words are a very striking illustration of the way in which the
Gospel brings Christ's principles to bear upon morals and duty. The
Apostle is doing nothing more than exhorting a handful of slaves to the
full and complete and patient acceptance of their hard lot, and in order
to teach a very homely and lowly lesson to the squalid minds of a few
captives, he brings in the mightiest of all lessons by pointing to the
most beautiful, most blessed, and most mysterious fact in the world's
history--the cross of Christ. It is the very spirit of Christianity that
the biggest thing is to regulate the smallest duties of life. Men's
lives are made up of two or three big things and a multitude of little
ones, and the greater rule the lesser; and, my friends, unless we have
got a religion and a morality that can and will keep the trifles of our
lives right there will be nothing right; unless we can take those
deepest truths, make them the ruling principles, and lay them down side
by side with the most trivial things of our lives, we are something
short. Is there nothing in your life or mine so small that we cannot
bring it into captivity and lift it into beauty by bringing it into
connection with saving grace? Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example. This is the first thing that strikes me, and I intend it also
by way of introduction. Look how the Apostle has put the points
together, as though there are two aspects which go together and cannot
be rendered apart, like the under side and the upper side of a coin.
'Christ also suffered for us,' and so for us says all the orthodox.
'Leaving us an example'--there protests all the heretics. Yes, but we
know that there is a power in both of them, and the last one is only
true when we begin with the first. He suffered for us. There, there, my
friends, is the deepest meaning of the cross, and if you want to get
Christ for an example, begin with taking Him as the sacrifice, for He
gave His life for you. Don't part the two things. If you believe Him to
be Christ, then you take Him at the cross: if you want to see the
meaning of Christ as an example, begin with Him as your Saviour.
'Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye
sho