'The mirage shall become a pool.' Life without Christ is but a long
illusion. 'Sin makes a mock of fools.' How seldom are hopes fulfilled,
and how still less frequently are they, when fulfilled, as good as we
painted them! The prismatic splendours of the rain bow, which gleam
before us and which we toil to catch, are but grey rain-drops when
caught. Joys attract and, attained, have incompleteness and a tang of
bitterness. The fish is never so heavy when landed on the sward as it
felt when struggling on our hook. 'All is vanity'--yes, if creatures
and things temporal are pursued as our good. But nothing is vanity, if
we have the life in us which Jesus comes to give. His Gospel gives
solid, unmingled joys, sure promises which are greater when fulfilled
than when longed for, certain hopes whose most brilliant colours are
duller than those of the realities. The half has not been told of the
'things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.'
Sure Promises.
A certain Hope.
IV. This New Life gives Fruitfulness. It stimulates all our nature. A
godless life is in a very tragic sense barren, and a wilderness. There
is in it nothing really worth doing, nor anything that will last.
Christ gives Power, Motive, Pattern, and makes a life of holy activity
possible. The works done by men apart from Him are, if measured by the
whole relations and capacities of the doers, unfruitful works, however
they may seem laden with ruddy clusters. It is only lives into which
that river of God which is full of water flows that bring forth fruit,
and whose fruit remains. The desert irrigated becomes a garden of the
Lord.
Note, too, how this river drowns out wild beasts. The true way of
conquering evil is to turn the river into it. Cultivate, and weeds die.
The expulsive power of a new affection is the most potent instrument
for perfecting character.
What is the use of water if we do not drink? We may perish with thirst
even on the river's bank. 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me and
drink.'