"Even Christ pleased not Himself."--Rom. xv. 3.
Do you really wish to follow the footsteps of the Holy Child Jesus? Have
you asked God to make you more like Him? Are you ready to begin to-day?
Then here is a motto for to-day, "Even Christ pleased not Himself." Will
you take it, and try to imitate Him? You are sure to have plenty of
opportunities of acting upon it, and thus proving not only to others, but
to your dear Saviour Himself, that you mean what you say, and mean what
you pray.
Perhaps it seems a rather melancholy "morning bell" to you, tolling
instead of chiming! But if you really wish to be like Christ, you will
soon find that its music is as sweet as any, and that its quiet chime will
come to you again and again with a wonderful sweetness and power, helping
you over all sorts of difficulties, and saving you from all sorts of sins
and troubles.
You can not tell, till you have fairly tried, how happy a little girl can
feel, who has cheerfully given up to another, for Jesus' sake, something
which she would have liked for herself; nor how happy a boy can be when of
his own free will, and by God's grace, he has chosen to do what his
conscience tells him would please the Lord Jesus instead of what would
have pleased himself.
If you have never tried it yet, begin to-day, and you will find it is
quite a new happiness.
Ah, what would have become of us if Christ had only "pleased Himself,"
and had stayed in His own glorious home instead of coming down to save us!
Think of that when you are tempted to please yourself instead of pleasing
Him, and the remembrance that even He pleased not Himself because He so
loved you, will help you to try and please Him, and to please others for
His sake.
"If washed in Jesus' blood,
Then bear His likeness too!
And as you onward press,
Ask, 'What would Jesus do?'
"Give with a full, free hand;
God freely gives to you!
And check each selfish thought
With, 'What would Jesus do?'"