Consider Christ So As to Become Like Him (5)

It is good upon all occasions, every day, to think, 'What would my blessed Saviour say if he were here? What did he do in similar cases when he was upon earth? I must be led by the Spirit of Christ, or else I am none of his.' Let us be ashamed when we are moved by our corruptions and temptations to do anything contrary to this blessed image.
Consider, the more we grow into the likeness of Christ, the more we grow in the love of God, who delights in us as he does in his own Son: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matt. 3:17). The more we are like Christ, the more he is pleased with us.
And the more we shall grow in love for one another, for the more pictures conform to the original pattern, the more they are like one another. So the more we grow to be like Christ, the more we are like one another; and the more alike, the more love.
Who keeps Christ alive in the world, but a company of Christians, who carry his resemblance? As we say of a child that is like his father. This man cannot die as long as his son is alive because he resembles his father. As long as Christians are in the world, who have the Spirit of Christ, Christ cannot die. He lives in them, and Christ is alive in the world in the hearts of Christians, who have received his grace and who carry the picture and resemblance of Christ in them.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Glorious Freedom, p. 115 [126]
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