_MY LIFE AND HOPE_
JOHN v. 19-30.
Here is my reservoir. "_The Son hath life in Himself._" All vitality has
its source in Him. He is the enemy of death and the deadly. I can paint
the dead to look like life; I can use rouge for blood, and make the white
lips red, but it all remains clammy and cold. I can galvanize, but I
cannot vitalize. I can "break the ball of nard," and make perfume, "but
still the sleeper sleeps." "In Him is life." "In Christ shall all be made
alive!"
And here is my hope. "_The Son also quickeneth._" He is not only a
reservoir, He is a river. He is "the river of water of life." And His
blessed purpose is to flow into desolate places, converting deserts into
gardens, and making wildernesses to blossom as the rose.
And He will come my way if only I will "hear" and "believe." There is a
flippant hearing which, while it listens, laughs Him to scorn. There is a
cheap hearing which will venture nothing on His counsel. And there is the
hearing of faith, which simply "takes Him at His word," and in the
glorious venture experiences the unsealing of the fountain of eternal
life. "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."