The Enlargement of the Soul

2 Corinthians vi. 13 v.
“Be ye also enlarged.”

How shall I enlarge my heart? When I want to enlarge ray field, I know what to do; I break down the fences that mark it off from other fields. But the evil of my natural heart is that it has already too few fences — too much of its own ground. If I would enlarge my heart, I must do it in the opposite way from the field. I must curtail my own extent by giving more space to the fields of others; I must put up new fences, to shut out my self-nature. The enlargement of my heart is love, and love is a limiting of myself. It is a setting up of other kingdoms within my own domains. Love takes the half of my field and gives it to my brother, and then against myself it writes over it the words, “no trespassing.” The enlargement of my heart is the death of selfish freedom — the death which Paul says “is gain.” It is the captivity to Christ, yea, the

H captivity of Christ. Often have I thought of these words, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” They were meant for a reproach, but they were the grandest compliment ever paid to love. It is the glory of love that it can say, “I cannot.” It is the glory of love that it can empty itself into a servant’s form, and he compelled by its own nature to obey. It is the glory of love that it “constraineth us,” forceth us, maketh prisoners of us. It is the glory of love that it has a crown of thorns — thorns of sympathetic pain, which it is powerless to escape, and bound to bear. It is the crown for which Jesus prayed when He said, “Glorify Thy Son.”

Son of Man, who hast reached Thy highest glory in the inability to save Thyself, grant me this enlarging powerlessness. Raise up in my heart that Divine barrier called Love. Shut the door upon my selfish nature. Put a wall of compassion in the middle of my soul. Make it impossible for me to hurt my brother, to trespass on the ground of my brother. Nay, that is a small thing; make it essential for me to enter the service of my brother, to become a worker in his field. My heart is not free until it is imprisoned; it only says “I can” when it says “I must.” Put Thy gold fetters on it, that it may expand. Bring it down from the wing into the cage, that it may have room to grow. Take away its freedom of indifference. Make it the slave of something, of somebody. Give it an aim to live for, to die for. Give it a yoke to bear, that it may find rest. Enclose it in human bonds, that it may learn to throb. When the bars of Thy love shall encircle it, it shall be enlarged indeed.