th, He went to heaven, that
He might do more than show us, might give us, and live in us that life of
trust. It is as we understand what the life of Christ is and how it becomes
ours, that we shall be prepared to desire and to ask of Him that He would
live it Himself in us. When first we have seen what the life is, then we
shall understand how it is that He can actually take possession, and make
us like Himself. I want especially to direct attention to that first
question. I wish to set before you the life of Christ as He lived it, that
we may understand what it is that He has for us and that we can expect from
Him. Christ Jesus lived a life upon earth that He expects us literally to
imitate. We often say that we long to be like Christ. We study the traits
of His character, mark His footsteps, and pray for grace to be like Him,
and yet, somehow, we succeed but very little. And why? Because we are
wanting to pluck the fruit while the root is absent. If we want really to
understand what the imitation of Christ means, we must go to that which
constituted the very root of His life before God. It was a life of absolute
dependence, absolute trust, absolute surrender, and until we are one with
Him in what is the principle of His life, it is in vain to seek here or
there to copy the graces of that life.

In the Gospel story we find five great points of special importance; the
birth, the life on earth, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension.
In these we have what an old writer has called "the process of Jesus
Christ;" the process by which He became what He is to-day--our glorified
King, and our life. In all this life process we must be made like unto Him.
Look at the first. What have we to say about His birth? This: He received
His _life from God_. What about His life upon earth? He lived that life in
dependence _upon God_. About His death? He gave up His life _to God_. About
His resurrection? He was raised from the dead _by God_. And about His
ascension? He lives His life in glory _with God_.

First, He received His life from God. And why is it of consequence that we
should look to that? Because Christ Jesus had in that the starling-point of
His whole life. He said: "The Father sent me;" "The Father hath given the
Son all things;" "The Father hath given the Son to have life in Himself."
Christ received it as His own life, just as God has His life in Himself.
And yet, all the time it was a life given and received. "Becaus