; he is using HIM, daily and hourly, as not only
his always abasing standard, but as "all his salvation, and all his
desire"; as the infinitely blissful Object of his affections and of his
knowledge; as his _Summum Bonum_. While Christ is fully this to the
Christian, he will be little likely on the one hand to say, "I am
perfect" (Job ix. 20); on the other he will be always seeking, in the
most practical of all ways, watching, praying, believing, for a closer
conformity and yet closer (_summorphixomenos_) to his Lord's bright
image.

And at the back of all his thoughts about defect and progress will lie
the restful certainties to which no ideas of defect attach, and from
which the idea of progress is absent, because it is out of place--the
certainties of the Righteousness of God, "of peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ"; the being "found in Him."

ii. The passage puts very distinctly before us the thought of the
Reward of Grace. The writer is living, loving, working, in view of a
"prize," _brabeion_: he looks forward to the Master's hand as it will
extend the wreath of victory, and to His voice as it will utter the
longed-for words, "Well done, good and faithful Servant." This same
man has laboured, in many an hour of public and private teaching, and
in many an inspired page, to emphasize the magnificent truth that grace
is grace; that God owes man nothing; that "all things are of God"; that
"to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness." He well knows that
there is a side of truth from which the one possible message is the
Lord's own solemn question and answer (Luke xvii. 9), "Doth he thank
that servant? I trow not." The most complete and laborious service
cannot possibly outrun the obligation of the rescued bondservant to the
Possessor, of the limb to the blessed Head. But then, this absolute
servitude is to One who is, as a fact, eternal Love. The work is done
for a Master who, while His claims are absolute, is such that He
personally delights in every response of love to His love, of will to
His will. His servant _cannot_ serve Him with a grateful heart without
thereby pleasing the heart of his Lord. And so, at the close of the
day's work, while, from the side of law and claims, the Lord "doth not
thank that servant," from the side of love and of moral sympathy He
will welcome him in with "Well done, good and faithful servant;