February 12

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him."—Colossians 2:6.

HELP me, my God, as I have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so to walk in Him.

I received Him, I remember well, as my Saviour. I laid my guilt on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. May I walk with Him as my Saviour. Whenever, in my running of the Christian race, I have been tempted into sin,—and how sadly often the old adversaries overcome me!—let me bring the sin at once under the view of His mercy and His cleansing blood.

I received Him as my Friend. I told Him all my want and necessity, and kept nothing back; in that never-to-be-forgotten hour every barrier of reserve was broken down. May I walk with Him as my Friend. Whenever I am in temptation or perplexity or sorrow, let me lay the matter before Him, as the Jewish king did the letter of the proud heathen prince. I shall have an answer as seasonable.

I received Him as my Master and King. I promised Him all my allegiance; I was prepared at His commandment to go anywhere and to dare anything. May I walk with Him as my Master. Whenever other voices allure me, and other influences solicit, let me turn deliberately from them and resolutely towards Him, my Well-beloved, my Lord and my God. Many a time let me renew with Him my solemn league and covenant.

"Oh, how great is the difference," Archbishop Trench says, "between submitting oneself to a complex of rules and casting oneself on a beating Heart!" It is on the beating Heart of Christ Jesus that I would cast myself every day.