One of my favorite hymns is called My Jesus, I Love Thee. It was written in 1864 by a young man named William Ralph Featherston who died at the age of 27. He wrote this magnificent hymn when he was only 16 years old. Each stanza ends with the words, “If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.” Featherston speaks of singing these joyous words upon all his meditations of God’s love, and in a bright heaven of endless delight. This is the end of those who draw near to God in this life.
The things of this world are truly fading, friends. The refrain in Ecclesiastes goes on even more today: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind,” Ecclesiastes 1:14. Money, cars, homes, power- it’s all fading away. It is godliness in Christ that alone brings contentment, 1 Timothy 6:6. Righteousness is the greatest and most noble pursuit ever to be placed in the hearts of man.
Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you,” Matthew 6:33. He says this alongside a great teaching about the provision of God for every single need in the lives of His children.
How much of our lives are spent in the pursuit of a pure righteousness? We cannot be any more saved than at the first, but how many are running their race to win in your life? 1 Corinthians 9:24? Are you? Are you seeking that which the world gives, or that which God gives? Are you seeking the glittering, or the frittering, end? Are you seeking that which will truly add to your life, or things that will mean nothing forever? Let us have our things, but have them at a distant second.
To have Christ, in the end, is to have all that is Christ’s, John 10:10.
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