If you want to see Christ, do His will. One act of obedience has more
power to clear a man's eyes than hours of idle contemplation; and one
act of disobedience has more power to dim his eyes than anything
besides. It is in the dusty common road that He draws near to us, and
the experience of those disciples that journeyed to Emmaus may be
ours. He meets us in the way, and makes 'our hearts burn within us.'
The experience of the dying martyr outside the city gate may be ours.
Sorrows and trials will rend the heavens if they be rightly borne,
and so we shall see Christ 'standing at the right hand of God.'
Rebellious tears blind our eyes, as Mary's did, so that she did not
know the Master and took Him for 'the gardener.' Submissive tears
purge the eyes and wash them clean to see His face. To do His will is
the sovereign method for beholding His countenance.

Brethren, is this our experience? You professing Christians, do you
see Christ? Are your eyes fixed upon Him? Do you go through life with
Him consciously nearer to you than any beside? Is He closer than the
intrusive insignificances of this fleeting present? Have you Him as
your continual Companion? Oh! when we contrast the difference between
the largeness of this promise--a promise of a thrilling consciousness
of His presence, of a vivid perception of His character, of an
unwavering certitude of His reality--and the fly-away glimpses and
wandering sight, and faint, far-off views, as of a planet weltering
amid clouds, which the most of Christian men have of Christ, what
shame should cover our faces, and how we should feel that if we have
not the fulfilment, it is our own fault! Blessed they of whom it is
true that they see 'no man any more save Jesus only'! and to whom all
sorrow, joy, care, anxiety, work, and repose are but the means of
revealing that sweet and all-sufficient Presence! 'I have set the
Lord always before me, therefore I shall not be moved.'