SEPARATION IS LEARNT IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST

^[p. 17] SEPARATION IS LEARNT IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST

The question in your letter is a very important one — ‘How to keep clear of what hinders’. You write, ‘I used to think that separation was more from things without, but now I see that it is an inward work accomplished with God’. You are quite right; but the more you are separated unto God, the more you are in His light, the more will you be separate from things without, because you will feel that they are incongruous and inconsistent. Every Christian has a measure of separation; he separates according to his conscience. Thus with many their separation is up to their consciences. The conscience is a good guard but not a guide. The Lord is the guide by the Spirit or through the light of the word. It is as you know the Lord — “In thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36: 9) — that you learn separation. A separation which you saw was necessary and right last year would be no rule for you when the Lord is better known. I do not believe that you could have a sense of the moral disparity of things here until you first know the order of things which suits Him, and you cannot know this, but as you are in His presence. It is not merely reading nor praying in itself. I can describe it only by the Queen of Sheba in the presence of Solomon; she was so absorbed with Solomon and his things that there was “no more spirit in her”. You get a sense in this nearness to Him of His holiness that you could not acquire anywhere else, and as you are transformed into moral correspondence to Him, you find that you have new tastes and new interests. You are not trying to have them, you have acquired them in His presence. Hence natural tastes and interests which previously had an acknowledged place are now superseded without any effort. You will get a good illustration of this in studying the difference between El-elohe-Israel and Bethel (Genesis 33, Genesis 35). Your altar, or morally your approach to God, indicates the measure of your relation to Him or His relation to you. Jacob was off the line at El-elohe- ^[p. 18] Israel — he had bought a parcel of a field, he assumes that he is God’s object. After much discipline there, God tells him to go to Bethel. It is twenty years since he had been there, but in remembrance of the character of the place, Jacob said to his household: “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments” (Genesis 35: 2). You must know holiness first, and be at home in it, before you can naturally carry it out. The great secret of all blessing is to come from the Lord. Every Christian goes to Him. You will be much interested in studying how the servant in the Old Testament was prepared for his service. The Lord draw your heart so to Himself that you may come from Him to do every service. Do not attempt to do too much. Let quality not quantity be the desire of your heart as to your service. A fruit tree grows fruit for its owner and his friends. This is your calling. The Lord bless you much.