"Thou wilt show Me the path
of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore" (Psa. 16:11).

This life is a life lived in the
light of the glory to which it leads. Every path has a destined end. "The
path of life" leads into the presence of the Lord where there is fullness
of joy and pleasures for evermore. In all the opposition the Lord Jesus had to
meet—the contradiction of sinners, the insults and reproach from the religious
world, the ignorance and forsaking of His own—He endured in the light of the
glory before Him. As we read, "Who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). The word to us is, "Consider Him who
endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and
faint in your minds" (Heb. 12:3).

Alas! we often break down in the
presence of contradiction and insult. We grow weary and faint under the
pressure of a long, drawn-out trial because we lose sight of the glory at the
end of the road—the joy that is set before us. Instead of quietly enduring
insults and shame, too often we return evil for evil and railing for railing.
We may attempt to justify our strong words and our hasty acts, but the one test
is, would Jesus have acted as we did? Would Jesus have said what we did?

If then we would think and speak
and act as the Lord Jesus did when treading the path of life—if in any measure
we would experience the blessedness of the lovely life marked out by Christ—let
us tread the path "looking unto Jesus" in the glory, the end
of the path; and let us "consider" Jesus as He trod the
path of life. Then, it may be, the transforming power of the loveliness of
Christ will, even now, change us into His image "from glory to
glory."

Moreover, let us remember that the
grace that enabled the Lord to tread the path of life is available for us. From
His place in the glory He still serves us as our great High Priest to help,
sympathize, and sustain us as we seek to follow in His steps in the path of
life that He has marked out for us. Whatever we may have to meet, whatever we
may be called upon to endure—opposition, insults, or desertions—let us remember
the word, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2
Tim. 2:1).

(From The Loveliness of Christ.)