Christ the Center

. . . In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.—Psalm 19:4-6

C. T. Russell

Devotional

As the son is the center of our solar system, so Christ is the Christian’s son and center of desire. As gravitation holds the planets in their proper orbit, so love holds the trusting heart in the pathway of willing obedience. As in completing the solar circuit, the earth receives the pleasing variety of seasons adapted to beauty and health, and to promote all organic life, so in our loving service of Christ, there is a pleasing and useful variety of gracious and profitable experiences. Sometimes fierce storms sweep across our pathway to drive us into the shelter of his promised grace. Sometimes the cold repulsiveness of the world’s unbelief and sin chills us like a winter’s blast, driving us to the central, steady sunlight of a Saviour’s constant love, causing springtime to burst forth in the Christian’s heart, and bursting buds of developing faith and love to expand into the fruits of Christian grace. But there is no winter in the sun. And he who has the Sun of Righteousness in his heart will have constantly the springtime of his abiding love.