Now the _Alpha_ and the _Omega_ of this, the one means which
includes all other, is laid down by Jesus Christ Himself in another
metaphor when He said, 'Abide in Me, and I in you; so shall ye bring
forth much fruit.' Our path will brighten, not because of any radiance
in ourselves, but in proportion as we draw nearer and nearer to the
Fountain of heavenly radiance.
The planets that move round the sun, further away than we are on
earth, get less of its light and heat; and those that circle around it
within the limits of our orbit, get proportionately more. The nearer
we are to Him, the more we shall shine. The sun shines by its own
light, drawn indeed from the shrinkage of its mass, so that it gives
away its very life in warming and illuminating its subject-worlds. But
we shine only by reflected light, and therefore the nearer we keep to
Him the more shall we be radiant.
That keeping in touch with Jesus Christ is mainly to be secured by the
direction of thought, and love, and trust to Him. If we follow close
upon Him we shall not walk in darkness. It is to be secured and
maintained very largely by what I am afraid is much neglected by
Christian people of all sorts nowadays, and that is the devotional use
of their Bibles. That is the food by which we grow. It is to be secured
and maintained still more largely by that which I, again, am afraid is
but very imperfectly attained to by Christian people now, and that is,
the habit of prayer. It is to be secured and maintained, again, by the
honest conforming of our lives, day by day, to the present amount of our
knowledge of Him and of His will. Whosoever will make all his life the
manifestation of his belief, and turn all his creed into principles of
action, will grow both in the comprehensiveness, and in the depths of
his Christian character. 'Ye are the light in the Lord.' Keep in Him,
and you will become brighter and brighter. So shall we 'go from strength
to strength, till we appear before God in Zion.'