WHAT PREPARES ME FOR ACTION
WHAT PREPARES ME FOR ACTION
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and our daily course is to be simply the expression of Him as He was here. It is not to be premeditation how we shall act on a given occasion, but seeking to have Him so dwelling at home in our hearts by faith, that we may act in our small circumstances as He has acted in opening out the path for us. When we premeditate how we shall act, it is our reputation which is before us; but when we are filled with His company, and the influence of it, we in His Spirit bear ourselves acceptably to Him towards those we have to do with, and there is consolation [p. 45] from the affections of Christ awakened by intercourse and communion; and when we meet with enmity and opposition, then there is a fuller sense of refuge in Him: He is “a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Proverbs 18: 10).
There is something very grand in the daily history of a saint. He knows nothing of the peculiar tactics of the foe for the day; he cannot, as in modern warfare, survey in a balloon the disposition of the enemy’s forces; but without knowing from what quarter the attack may come, he is to be ready on every side, and he goes forth like the sun to run his course, resisting all evil, and contributing good on every hand; and, if abiding in Christ, he is well qualified to do so. He is not watching the enemy to see what he must provide, but he is cultivating the company of Christ in his heart by faith, and then he is prepared for every assault. The company of the One most loved and valued is the only military exercise for him. It is when the heart is most fully at rest that the hand is most skilful to shelter a friend or to confound a foe, and so when I know the rest of Christ dwelling in my heart, His strength is ministered through me according as the demand is made. Are you premeditating how you will act, going through drill and sword exercise in order to be up to the mark? or are you entertaining Christ as a guest in your heart, and therefore provided with His grace on every side? What a difference! In the one case, your heart is satisfied in its deepest enjoyments, because occupied with the Guest that commands the fullest circle of them; in the other, you are in a state of suspense, at best occupied with the demand which is made on you, rather than with the strength of Him who would enable you to meet all demands.