'Voices From The Past' Vol. 1 — March 2

Christ Jesus set himself wholly apart for believers. We may say, 'Lord, condemnation was yours, that justification might be mine; agony was yours, and victory mine; pain was yours, and ease is mine; stripes were yours, and healing mine; vinegar and gall were yours, that honey and sweet might be mine; the curse was yours, and the blessing mine; a crown of thorns was yours, that the crown of glory might be mine; death was yours, and eternal life mine!' If Jesus wholly set himself apart for believers, how reasonable it is for believers to set themselves apart for Christ. He left the highest enjoyments in his Father's bosom, to set himself apart for death and suffering for you. Are you ready to leave the bosom of the best and sweetest enjoyments you have in this world to serve him? He did not refuse the worst and hardest part of service for you, even bleeding, groaning, and dying. O happy souls that are so engaged for Christ! Was he all for us, and shall we be nothing for him? All he did and all he suffered, he suffered for us. O then, ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship' (Rom. 12:1). Let us say, 'For to me to live is Christ' (Phil. 1:21). O that all who profess faith in Christ could subscribe to this: 'If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord' (Rom. 14:8). This is a Christian indeed! What is a Christian, but one dedicated to the Lord? Blessed exchange! Christ says; 'All I have is yours', and we say: 'Though my person is vile, and not worthy of being accepted, but such as it is, it is yours. My soul with all and every faculty; my body, and every member of it; my gifts, time, and all my talents are yours.'

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Devotional Readings 'Voices From The Past Vol.1.'
John Flavel, Works, I:101-103
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