| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 13 |
Page 8 |
The secret is, abiding in Christ, with Christ abiding in us. We cannot keep ourselves; nothing less than the Divine keeping is able to guard us from stumbling, and to shelter us from the hurt of sin. The old promise runs, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” Our part is only the staying on God, in His love, close to His heart; God’s is the keeping. It was the promise of the Master that His disciples should take up serpents, and, if they drank any deadly thing that it should in no wise hurt them. This promise stands for all who are in living relations with Christ.
“O Lord, seek us, O Lord, find us in Thy patient care;
Be Thy love before, behind us, round us, everywhere;
Lest the god of this world blind us, lest he speak us fair;
Lest he forge a chain to bind us, lest he bait a snare.
Turn not from us, call to mind us, find, embrace us, bear;
Be Thy love before, behind us, round us, everywhere.”
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