THREE SPHERES

^[p. 480] THREE SPHERES

I see that a christian has three spheres: the church sphere, the public sphere and the domestic sphere. The first two are treated of in Romans, the first and third in Ephesians and Colossians. In the world every one has his private life and his public life. The christian has his private life as well as his public one, but with this great difference, that the better he is in his public life, the better he will be in his private or personal life. The better you are in the church, that is, for Christ here, the better you will be in your home life. This not true of the world or in natural things. Christ’s path going through this world is that of bearing everything for the elect’s sake “unto all patience”, that is the first sign of an apostle as to his moral state. It is the character of Christ: “I waited patiently for the Lord” (Psalm 40: 1). If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him; He constantly tells us that.

You must have private self-denial to be effective in public testimony.