The Boldness of Christian Hope
“That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” — Eph. iii. 19.
What an aspiration for a band of fishermen, peasants, slaves! It was an aspiration after more than Roman dominion, after more than Judaic empire. The proudest dreams of Pantheism never dared to soar so high. The Brahman had aspired to be lost in God, to have the little spark of his individual being absorbed in the mighty fire of the universe; that was rather humility than pride. Here was a company of men aspiring to reach God yet not to be lost in God, aiming to touch the brightness of the Infinite Glory without losing the spark of their own individual being. Was not this presumption, was not this impiety, was not this fitted to destroy all the tender graces of the Christian life? — the poverty of spirit which had been promised the kingdom, the meekness of heart which was to inherit the earth.
Nay, but who was this God with whose fulness they desired to be filled? His name was Love. If His name had been aught else than Love the desire of these men would have been indeed presumption. But to be filled with the fulness of love is not pride; it is the deepest, the most intense humility. He that is filled with love is thereby made the servant of all; be repeats the life of the Divine Man, and becomes heir to His burden. To him belong sorrows not his own. He labours in the labour of humanity, he suffers in the tears of affliction, he is wounded in the battle of the weak. His glory is his pain. That which fills him with God is that which fills him with sadness, which bows him down with the sense of nothingness; the love that makes him great is the power that makes him gentle. 0 Love that passest knowledge, come into my heart with all Thy fulness, that my heart may be made gentle with Thy gentleness. Without Thee I have no humility, because I have no burden; I live for myself, because I have no thought beyond self. But when Thou shalt enter in I shall cease to be my own. I shall become heir to the sins and sorrows of the vast wTorld, I shall take up the crosses of the labouring and the heavy-laden. When I am filled by Thee I shall be emptied of all pride; when I am conscious of Thee I shall be forgetful of myself. In Thy strength shall I find my weakness, in Thy wealth shall I learn my poverty, in Thy fulness shall I awake to the sense of my nothingness; I shall become the servant of humanity when Thou shalt fill my soul.