Paul lived, yet not he, but Christ lived in him. It is but one
illustration of the principle of his being that Christ who was the life
of his life, is the heart of his love. He longed after his Philippian
friends in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. This and this only is
the true consecration of love when we live and love in the Lord; when we
will as Christ does, think as He does, love as He does, when the mind
that was in Christ Jesus was in us. It is needful to guard against the
intrusion of mere human affection and regard into our sacred relations
in the Church; it is needful to guard against it in our own personal
love and friendship. Let us see that we ourselves know and believe the
love wherewith Christ hath loved us, and then let us see that that love
dwells in us informing and hallowing our hearts, making them tender with
His great tenderness, and turning all the water of our earthly
affections into the new wine of His kingdom. Let the law for our hearts,
as well as for our minds and wills, be 'I live, yet not I but Christ
liveth in me.'