Most people like new things. As children they like new toys; this desire grows as they grow up; there is a craving in the heart for something they do not possess; they keep trying to find something new that will satisfy this craving. The more means people have, the more this craving grows and strengthen; because we are so made that the more we get, the more we want. Desire grows with possession, as Solomon said:"He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase" (Eccl. 5:10). Reader, would it not be a great thing to be satisfied?-to be content with what you have here? Can you think of anything that would be more desirable than a mind and heart at rest from the craving for something new?

A way is provided for every one to have all the new things that are really worth having, that are really desirable ; for every one must know that a great deal of what people desire would only do them harm, if obtained. Can you think of anything better for the present than the gift of just what you really need? Would not that be ideal? But, better than that, suppose you could also have all the new things that would make you truly happy; would not that be the best? But that is the life that lies within reach of every one; new things in the morning, at noon, and at night; new things that really give satisfaction.

The things that are of the world have never satisfied any one. They are not made to satisfy. That is why people that try to get satisfaction from the world never find it there. The newness of the things desired soon wears off; then they are no more satisfying than the old. The things of this world do not stay new; they speedily grow old. The people who expect to get satisfaction out of things here are sure to be disappointed. God will have people satisfied, and He therefore sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to provide a way by which hearts may have and enjoy the new things that really do satisfy. For this Christ does not give this or that new thing; He does the most wonderful thing, He does a wonder, a miracle-He makes people themselves new! Is not that one cf the most wonderful things you could think of?-to make every one who receives Him new. with the sure result that to such everything becomes new?

Best of all, the new gifts stay new. They do not grow old; do not wear out, but keep their freshness, so that they are a continual and perpetual source of joy, peace, and happiness. The craving for something else new is gone for ever. When Christ comes in, world-weariness goes out. "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shell give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13). Is not that wonderful?-shall never thirst! Put by the side of these words those which come to us through Paul:"If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). This reveals what Christ does for His own, for those who receive His grace. The person-man, woman, child-is made new, and for such an one all 'things become new. ! All his life he has been looking at things as they look to the unbelieving world; when Christ is accepted as Saviour, all looks different, looks new, not for a little while but for ever. The world itself looks very differently to one in Christ. When people are in the world with the world in them, all their hopes, fears, aims, interests, are in and of the world; it fills their hearts and minds. Christ and all He is are only vague shadows. But when He is received as Saviour there is a new interest, a new joy, a new peace, all coming from knowing Christ, believing in Him, resting upon Him for salvation. The old image of Christ before the mind and in the heart is gone forever, and Christ is new; He is with His child, dwelling in the heart, being before the mind. Christ, instead of being despised, or feared and hated, is loved, delighted in, trusted, obeyed. Instead of a false Christ, an unknown Christ, the believing heart has a true and real Christ.

"Shall never thirst" has become true. The new Christ displaces all else in the daily life. There is a freshness, a newness in thinking of Him. He loves us, and "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Because of this the one in Christ has a new place in the world, does not longer belong to it, is not of it. Instead of loving the world and the things of the world, the heart is filled with the love of and for Christ. Loving Him means also loving His Word, His way, His truth. As there is nothing in us more powerful than love, love for Christ binds us to Him as nothing else can.

But to become Christ's means to hate sin, hate that which Christ hates, and to have His enemies as our enemies. These we have to fight, and every believer in Christ becomes a warrior. The master served by the world is no longer the enslaver of the one who has accepted Christ as Saviour. Satan, the world, and self, hold captive those who are of the world; when one is in Christ the new life is an entirely new service with new wages, new prizes, and, best of all, a new home at the end of this life, an eternal abiding-place. To be Christ's means being an overcomer. He is that, and because He
is, He gives a prize for overcoming such as even He Himself received, as He tells us in Rev. 3:21.

One of the most wonderful new possessions is prayer, asking for whatever we need, be it great or small. If there be a need (and the needs will pile up), we can take it to Him. Part of prayer is asking, but part is praising, and the praise is as great a joy as the asking and receiving. To praise and give thanks is a part of the new life. Who of the world ever thinks to thank Christ for His gifts and mercies? J. W. Newton