Golden Nugget Number 272
How truly delightful and refreshing to turn to the only perfect Man who ever trod this earth! His path was indeed an isolated one — none more so. He had no sympathy with the scene around Him. The world knew Him not. ‘He came to His own [Israel], and His own received Him not‘ (John 1:11). ‘I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none‘ (Psalm 69:20). Even His own beloved disciples failed to sympathize with, or understand Him. They slept on the mount of transfiguration in the presence of His glory and they slept in the Garden of Gethsemane in the presence of His agony. They roused Him out of His sleep with their unbelieving fears and were continually intruding upon Him with their ignorant questions and foolish notions.
How did He meet all this? In perfect grace, patience and tenderness. He answered their questions; He corrected their notions; He hushed their fears; He solved their difficulties; He met their need; He made allowance for their infirmities; He gave them credit for devotedness in the moment of desertion; He looked at them through His own loving eyes and loved them, notwithstanding all. ‘Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end‘ (John 13:1)
Christian reader, let us seek to drink into our blessed Master’s spirit and walk in His footsteps. Then our isolation will be of the right kind, and though our path may be narrow, the heart will be large.
(C.H.Mackintosh)
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