. Nothing less than a living Christ
will do for us, by J.R. Miller. He was raised on the
third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15.4. If your faith stops at the cross,
it misses the blessing of the fullest revealing of Christ,
You need a Savior who not merely two thousand years ago went to
death to redeem you, but one who also is alive to walk by
your side in loving companionship. You need a Savior who can hear
your prayers, to whose feet you can creep in penitence when you
have sinned, to whom you can call for help when the battle
is going against you. You need a Savior who is interested
in all the affairs of your common life and who can assist you in
every time of need. You need a Christ who can be
a real friend, loving you, keeping close beside you, able to sympathize
with your weaknesses, You need a Savior who will come into your
life and will save you not by one great act of centuries past,
but by a life warm and throbbing with love today and living again
in you. A dying Christ alone will not
satisfy our heart. We must have the living One for
our Friend. Nothing less than a living Christ
will do for us. And that is the Christ the gospel
brings to us, one who was dead and is now alive for ever and
ever. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God, cried the psalmist, and cries every redeemed soul. It is only as we realize the
truth of a living Christ that our hearts are satisfied. We
crave love, a bosom to lean upon, a hand to touch ours, a heart
whose beatings we can feel, a personal friendship that will come into
our life with its sympathy, its inspiration, its companionship,
its shelter, its life, its comfort. All this, the living Christ is
to us. I am the Living One, I was dead,
and behold, I am alive for ever and ever. Revelation 1.18