One day a brother came to me, saying, “It is rather difficult for me to understand the difference between our patience, and love and the patience and love of Christ. What is our patience, and what is the patience of Christ? What is our love, and what is the love of Christ?” It was not easy to answer. “Brother,” he continued, “how can I know whether I am loving a person with my love or with the love of Christ?” I considered, and then I said to him, “If the love with which you love others is the love of Christ, it is unlimited; it can never be exhausted. If the love with which you love others is your own love, I am sure it will come to an end; there will be a limit to it. Today you will love him, and tomorrow you will love him; in these things you will love him, and in those things you will love him. You will love him one day, the next day, and the third day; you will love him this month, this year, and next year. But I am sure that the time will come when you will love him no longer; your love will be exhausted.”
There is a limit to human goodness, but the goodness of Christ is without limit. If your patience has a limit, that patience is not Christ. If you are patient with Christ’s patience, the more wrongly you are treated, the more patient you will be. This patience can never be exhausted. Christ is good in His unlimitedness; Christ is good in His spaciousness. With everything of Him, there is no limit and no change.
I think most of us have experienced or seen something of the problems between husband and wife. Sometimes I have seen a husband who appears to love his wife so much. I can always predict that after five years this man will not love his wife; his love will be exhausted. But the love of Christ can never be exhausted. If you love your wife with the love of Christ, it will be unlimited. If you love her with your own love, be assured that the more you love her today, the more you will hate her another day. Praise the Lord, we can love others with the love of Christ. We can say, “Lord, it is not my love, but it is Your love, and Your love is Yourself. I love others with Yourself, I love others in Yourself, and I love others through Yourself. The dimensions of the love with which I love others are the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth of Christ.”
That piece of land is good. It is good in its spacious ness. There is no limit to Christ. Oh, brothers, I do not like to speak much about myself, but I can testify that the Christ we experience is an unlimited Christ. During the past thirty years the things which have befallen me have always been increasing. The burden of the Lord’s work, the churches, and the co-workers has always been increasing. The problems have never decreased. The burdens, the troubles, the problems, the difficulties have been increasing day by day. But, praise the Lord, by the increase of the burden, I have experienced Christ more and more. I have realized that Christ is without any kind of limitation. There can never be a problem which is bigger than Christ. There can never be a situation which He cannot cover.
I have a handkerchief which is only so big—perhaps twelve inches by twelve inches. It can only cover so much. It can never cover the whole room; it is not big enough. But you must realize that Christ is like a piece of cloth without limit. You cannot tell how broad and how long He is. There is no limit. He can cover anything and every thing. No matter how great a problem may be, Christ can cover it. Christ is good in His unlimitedness. Christ is good in His breadth and length and height and depth. Christ is such a spacious land for us to experience and enjoy in every situation.