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Monday, August 20, 2018

BONDS OF GRACE AND GLORY

BONDS OF GRACE AND GLORY   


"Remember my bonds" Col. 4:18
                                                      
                                                                                                     
That is the last word but one, in one of the most wonderful letters Paul wrote; certainly the letter which in conjunction with that to the Ephesians constitutes the crowning height of all his teaching. It is not quite the last word. That follows, and in agreement with all his life and teaching turns back to God, and out towards others, in the parting wish "Grace be with you." Yet it is very suggestive that there should come the cry which reveals his consciousness of limitation and suffering. The whole letter had been written in prison, and surely during the writing the place had flamed with light. Paul had been seated in the heavenlies. The most wonderful visions of the GLORIES of his Lord had passed before him, and he had seen himself and all Christian souls filled to the FULL, COMPLETE in the FULLNESS, the COMPLETENESS, of this Lord of surpassing GLORY. He saw that all things come to a good end, perfected souls, even his bond(s) because of the God of all grace was in control with His plan from eternity past. Having finished, he took the pen in his own hand to write the salutation; and as he did so, the weight of the chain which bound him was felt and perhaps its pain also. Then his heart went out toward his comrades, and he craved their sympathy and help: "Remember my bonds." How close that human touch brings him to all of us, and how much more powerful becomes all his high spiritual teaching because of it! It is always so. The great things of spiritual interpretation are always made more powerful to others when they are reinforced by the touch that reveals our fellowship with those whom we serve in the sense of need. And yet in spite of the chain, he wrote his salutation: "Grace be with you."

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