第139章

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.""If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17.Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit.They have renounced selfishness.The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure.Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have become transformed into the image of God.This change is in itself the miracle of miracles.A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word.We cannot understand it; we can only believe, as declared by the Scriptures, it is "Christ in you, the hope of glory."When the Spirit of God controls mind and heart, the converted soul breaks forth into a new song; for he realizes that in his experience the promise of God has been fulfilled, that his transgression has been forgiven, his sin covered.He has exercised repentance toward God for the violation of the divine law, and faith toward Christ, who died for man's justification.

"Being justified by faith," he has "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1.

But because this experience is his, the Christian is not therefore to fold his hands, content with that which has been accomplished for him.He who has determined to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions of unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him.Each day he must renew his consecration, each day do battle with evil.Old habits, hereditary tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ's strength for victory.

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth," Paul wrote to the Colossians; "in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them.

But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth....Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."The letter to the Colossians is filled with lessons of highest value to all who are engaged in the service of Christ, lessons that show the singleness of purpose and the loftiness of aim which will be seen in the life of him who rightly represents the Saviour.Renouncing all that would hinder him from making progress in the upward way or that would turn the feet of another from the narrow path, the believer will reveal in his daily life mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, forbearance, and the love of Christ.

The power of a higher, purer, nobler life is our great need.The world has too much of our thought, and the kingdom of heaven too little.

In his efforts to reach God's ideal for him, the Christian is to despair of nothing.Moral and spiritual perfection, through the grace and power of Christ, is promised to all.Jesus is the source of power, the fountain of life.He brings us to His word, and from the tree of life presents to us leaves for the healing of sin-sick souls.He leads us to the throne of God, and puts into our mouth a prayer through which we are brought into close contact with Himself.In our behalf He sets in operation the all-powerful agencies of heaven.At every step we touch His living power.

God fixes no limit to the advancement of those who desire to be "filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."Through prayer, through watchfulness, through growth in knowledge and understanding, they are to be " strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." Thus they are prepared to work for others.It is the Saviour's purpose that human beings, purified and sanctified, shall be His helping hand.For this great privilege let us give thanks to Him who "hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son."Paul's letter to the Philippians, like the one to the Colossians, was written while he was a prisoner at Rome.The church at Philippi had sent gifts to Paul by the hand of Epaphroditus, whom Paul calls "my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants." While in Rome, Epaphroditus was sick, "nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him," Paul wrote, "and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." Hearing of the sickness of Epaphroditus, the believers at Philippi were filled with anxiety regarding him, and he decided to return to them."He longed after you all," Paul wrote, "and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick....I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: