Why did He live all these holy child-years on earth instead of staying in heaven till it was time to come and die for you?  One reason was, that He might leave you a beautiful example, so that you might wish to be like Him, and ask for the Holy Spirit to make you like Him.  But the other was even more gracious and wonderful, it was “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  That is, that all this goodness and holiness might be reckoned to you, because you had not any of your own, and that God might smile on you for His sake, just as if you had been perfectly obedient, and truthful, and unselfish, and good, and give you Jesus Christ’s reward, which you never deserved at all, but which He deserved for you.

He took your sins and gives you His righteousness; He took your punishment and gives you His reward; it is just changed over, if you will only accept the exchange!

  “I’m glad my blessed Saviour
    Was once a child like me,
  To show how pure and holy
    His little ones might be. 
  And if I try to follow
    His footsteps here below,
  He never will forget me,
    Because He loves me so.”

2.  Second Day.

Our Great Example

   “Even Christ pleased not Himself.”—­Rom. xv. 3.

Do you really wish to follow the footsteps of the Holy Child Jesus?  Have you asked God to make you more like Him?  Are you ready to begin to-day?  Then here is a motto for to-day, “Even Christ pleased not Himself.”  Will you take it, and try to imitate Him?  You are sure to have plenty of opportunities of acting upon it, and thus proving not only to others, but to your dear Saviour Himself, that you mean what you say, and mean what you pray.

Perhaps it seems a rather melancholy “morning bell” to you, tolling instead of chiming!  But if you really wish to be like Christ, you will soon find that its music is as sweet as any, and that its quiet chime will come to you again and again with a wonderful sweetness and power, helping you over all sorts of difficulties, and saving you from all sorts of sins and troubles.

You can not tell, till you have fairly tried, how happy a little girl can feel, who has cheerfully given up to another, for Jesus’ sake, something which she would have liked for herself; nor how happy a boy can be when of his own free will, and by God’s grace, he has chosen to do what his conscience tells him would please the Lord Jesus instead of what would have pleased himself.

If you have never tried it yet, begin to-day, and you will find it is quite a new happiness.

Ah, what would have become of us if Christ had only “pleased Himself,” and had stayed in His own glorious home instead of coming down to save us!  Think of that when you are tempted to please yourself instead of pleasing Him, and the remembrance that even He pleased not Himself because He so loved you, will help you to try and please Him, and to please others for His sake.