November 30

If any man serve me, let him follow me. - John 12:26.

THAT is, let him be in reality what he professes to be. Let him not serve me in word and in tongue only, but also in deed and in truth. Let him “follow me,” that as my servant he shall be distinguished by coming after me, by which he will promote my glory, advance my cause, and “adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things.” A servant is always to be within his master’s call, and in a state of readiness to attend upon his orders; he is chiefly distinguished by devotedness to his master’s pleasure. “His servants ye are to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.”

Now, to “follow Christ” is to observe his precepts, imbibe his spirit, and to imitate his example. These are indispensable. It is said of the Saviour that “he began both to do and to teach:” he went before his disciples in all that he enforced upon them. Does he command us to be holy in all manner of conversation? “He was holy, harmless, separate from sinners.” Does he command us to be humble? “He was meek and lowly in heart;” he washed his disciples’ feet; he said, “I am among you as one that serveth.” Does he command us “to do good and to communicate”? “He went about doing good.” He it was that said, “Give alms of such things as ye possess.” It was he “who loved us and gave himself for us.” Who requires us to be fervent in spirit? It is he who said, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” Who orders us to be patient and forgiving? It is he “who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; who, when he suffered, murmured not, but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously;” he who prayed for his persecutors, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

His example, therefore, was the law and the gospel in a living and an embodied form. It is a body of theology and morality itself, and is recorded for this very purpose; “and he that saith he abideth in the truth ought himself also so to walk even as he walked;” for “as is the heavenly, so are they also that are heavenly,” and, “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”