SOW TO THE SPIRIT

SOW TO THE SPIRIT

You must never expect to be without exercise, but the less you give way to the flesh, the more will it be displaced. There must be the distinct sense that if I turn from Christ, I lose the Spirit’s support, and I am ^[p. 318] practically in the flesh. When I am seeking to walk as Christ, my eye on Him, I may be assailed by the flesh, but I am entitled to say (and this is my safety) that I am free from it, because in Christ I am dead to sin; I am not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. I know the lion is there, and I know how fierce he is; but I am, through grace, free of him. I must not tamper with him, or give heed in any way to him, but I must not deny that he is there; and therefore I walk in fear, but consciously happy that my real place, through the gift of God, is in Christ, clear of him. All spiritual things are given to us, but we are responsible to retain them, at least the enjoyment of them, and this you never can, except in their own proper soil and climate. “He that hath, to him shall be given”. You cannot retain spiritual things in carnal enjoyments; even the best of them are the old wine. You must sow to the Spirit, and then of the Spirit you reap everlasting life, never-ending life of perennial freshness and vigour. If you come from a happy meeting or time with the Lord, and give yourself to carnal literature or gossip, you will lose the fragrance and value of the season with the Lord; but if you seek to abide more with the Lord, because of the happy time He has vouchsafed to you, you will be brighter and brighter; and as Christ gets increasingly His true place in your heart, all that is not of Him will be increasingly displaced.