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Music For the Soul
Devotional: February 21st

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THE CROWN OF SERVICE

When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shall stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death He should glorify God. - John 21:18

The enigmatical words draw a contrast between the earlier days of independence, of self-will, of strength which is its own master and its own guide, and the latter days when some unwelcome necessity should be laid upon him, and the constraint of an external hand should lead him whither he would not. They would sound obscure to Peter at first. The whole depth and meaning of them, no doubt, was not originally disclosed to him, or to his brethren. But before the predicted end came, the Apostle had learned what was meant, and told his brethren that he knew that the "putting off of his tabernacle could be a swift process, even as the Lord Jesus had showed him." But still, though they would not be understood in their full depth, these words, no doubt, would be felt to cast something of a sombre shadow over the Apostolic functions and prospects of the future. And so, notice how all that shadow is irradiated with sunlight by the final words, "Follow Me!" which, though no doubt it may have referred to a literal going apart with Jesus at the moment for some unknown purpose, yet is intended to gather up the injunction of service and the prophecy of suffering into one great, all comprehensive command. Treading in Christ’s footsteps, the path of toilsome service becomes easy, and martyrdom itself a trivial pain.

That last command puts the crown on the service of life and the suffering of death. He who, living or dying, is the Lord’s, and follows Him, can strenuously do and calmly die. It is the sum of all duty, the one all sufficient command which absorbs into itself all law, and by its grand simplicity rules all life.

So this incident yields great truths for us all. The penitent can go back to his Lord and avow his love. Love is the foundation for service. We shall serve Him in the measure in which we love Him; and if thus drawn by His mighty love, and conscious of our own manifold weaknesses, and smitten with the sense of His pardoning mercy, we cleave close to His footsteps, life will be easy, service will be blessed, and that last moment, which to others is as if some bony hand was stretched out to hale them away whither they would not into a dark land, will be to us like what it was to the Apostle Peter himself in the hour of his deliverance from the prison. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself will come to us and say to us, "Rise quickly and follow Me! " And the chains will drop from our hands, and we shall pass through the iron gate that opens of its own accord; and we shall find ourselves in the city, and know that it was not a vision, but the reality of the appearance of that Lord whom we love, though we have denied Him so often and served Him so ill.

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