7. His Wealth for thee. Though He was rich, yet
Christ for Us much bears upon it. When we read one through with this thought, —"''His lips for me!''—wondering, verse by verse, at the grace which was poured into them, and the gracious words which fell from them, wondering more and more at the cumulative force and infinite wealth of tenderness and power and wisdom and love flowing from them, we cannot but desire that our lips and all the fruit of them should be wholly for Him. For thee they were opened in blessing; for thee they were closed when
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And whether teaching, warning, giving counsel, comfort, or encouragement, commandments in whose keeping there is a great reward, or promises which exceed all we ask or think—all the precious fruit of His lips is for thee really and truly meant for thee.
7. His Wealth for thee. Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich. Yes, through His poverty the unsearchable riches of Christ are for thee. Sevenfold riches are mentioned; and these are no unminted treasure or sealed reserve, but all ready coin for our use, stamped with His own image and superscription, and poured freely into the hand of faith. The mere list is wonderful. Riches of goodness, riches of forbearance and long-suffering, riches both of wisdom and knowledge, riches of mercy, exceeding riches of grace, and riches of glory! And His own Word says, "'All are yours!"'
Glance on in faith, and think of eternity flowing on and on beyond the mightiest sweep of imagination,
CHRIST FOR US
and realize that all His riches in glory and the riches of His glory are and shall be for thee!
In view of this, shall we care to reserve anything that rust doth corrupt for ourselves?
_ 8. His Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge for thee. First, used for our behalf and benefit. Why did He expend such immeasurable might of Mind upon a world which is to be burned up, but that He would fit it perfectly to-be, not the home, but the school of His children? The infinity of His skill is such that the most powerful intellects find a lifetime too short to penetrate a little way into a few secrets of some one small department of His working. If we turn to Providence, it is quite enough to take only one's own life, and look at it microscopically and telescopically, and marvel at the treasures of wisdom lavished upon its details, ordering and shaping and fitting the tiny confused bits into the true mosaic which He means it to be. Many a little thing in our lives reveals the same. Mind, which adjusted a perfect proportion in the delicate hinges of the snowdrop and the droop of its bell, with the mass of the globe and the force of gravitation. How kind we think it if a very talented friend spends a little of his thought and power of mind in teaching us or planning for us! Have we been grateful for the infinite thought and wisdom which our Lord has expended upon us and our creation, preservation, and redemption?
Secondly, to be shared with us. He says, "'All that I have is thine.'' He holds nothing back, reserves