THE POWER TO ACQUIRE THE WAYS OF CHRIST HERE

THE POWER TO ACQUIRE THE WAYS OF CHRIST HERE

The Scriptures present to us the truth of God, and that truth demonstrated in living ways by the Son of God on earth. He is the truth because He has fully set forth the mind and ways of God, in contrast to all the evil and opposition here. Truth has been fully expressed by Him. He has shewn what is contrary to God, by presenting in Himself what is worthy of God. The Light has come, and darkness is manifested. It is not a mere demonstration of the wrong, but an exposure of it in the light of that which is fully right; the evil is shewn, but it is shewn in contrast with the good. Thus grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. In the perfection of His ways, He set forth everything in its true state; what God is and what man is to God. The divine perfection manifested in Him exposed the true state of man with reference to God. The will of God was the rule of His life, and as He followed it, He observed a path peculiar to it; hence, that path judged and exposed ever one and everything not in it. He was not scrutinising the course of things here to hit on some line of action, which He could observe; He looked not at things here, but to God, and He walked in them according to His will. He walked independently of everything here. What God would have Him do, be it subjection to His ^[p. 9] parents, or anything else, entirely and simply ruled Him; and this definite reference to God in everything necessarily led Him into a new and hitherto unknown line here, where every man acted for himself. Christ acting in the midst of evil and contrariety here in this singular and perfect way, described the path well-pleasing to God; and hence He exposed the course which man had followed; and thus the true and false were brought into juxtaposition; the truth was manifested, and with it the grace also.

Now it is clear that the path of Christ is our path. He is our life; and as we see where and how He walked, we are in our consciences assured that the only way for us is to walk even as He walked. When we read of Him, when we trace His way here, we are convinced that is the only course for us - the only true way, and that all the rest has been exposed by Him as false and not of God; and “we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one” (1 John 5: 19). But conviction that such a course should be mine because it is Christ’s, does not give me power to observe it and to walk in it. It is one thing for my conscience to be awakened to the path and ways of Christ, but it is another thing to get power to pursue and carry out what I plainly see enjoined on me as Christ’s, and as the fruits of His life; and the latter (the power of life) is not acquired by seeing what flows from the possession of it, but by abiding in Christ who is my life. If I abide in Him, He abides in me, and I bring forth much fruit. I see in the word the ways and the manner of Christ; I am convinced in my conscience that these are the ways and manners which only become me; but the sense of duty is not the power to perform a duty: the power is only acquired by abiding in Christ - being occupied with Him where He is. The conscience being arrested is not power, though it produces zeal for what one feels is the only true thing; hence, if I put away conscience, concerning faith I make shipwreck, and if the truth ^[p. 10] be accepted conscientiously, there must be unhappiness, or a bad conscience, if it be not carried out.

Christ’s ways may be admired and coveted without there being a distinct sense that they are the very ways that I am in truth to walk in. When I have this sense my conscience is awakened; and then, as I know from whence my strength comes, I seek it, that I may accomplish what is plainly the duty of my life. I do not look at the duties merely, but I look to Him from whence I derive power to fulfil them. The parent bird is never satisfied until the offspring flies and sings like herself; nor does she ever surrender this, the climax and reward too for all her toil and labour; and if the offspring had sense, it would understand the mind and intention of its parent. But the parent does not merely keep before her the grand consummation and reward of all her toil, when her offspring will display itself in its own nature and ability, but she feeds it with suited food, to increase the constitutional vigour, so that the desired end may be obtained; and as it approaches, when the wings have grown, her attentions are still greater, in order to direct the acquired power into the manner and ways which are in accordance with her own nature and ability. To live Christ is the consummation for me here; but I must feed on Christ in order to acquire constitutional vigour, before I can walk as He walked, which in His life I am called to and enabled for, through the power of the Spirit.