“As ye have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in Him.”
It is so blessed, when the heart feels dull and when no progress seems to be made, just to go back as at the first to Christ Himself—to draw strength from Him—to lay hold of Him afresh—to look to Him as having no strength whatever in self.
With these thoughts, bringing their blessing and encouragement, I happened to call upon a neighbor who was not fully at rest in God’s presence. That she was in earnest was clearly indicated by her ready reply to the ordinary greeting, “O! I am happier in my soul today.”
The experience of this woman is that of numbers of Christians—one day lifted up, the next desponding, the light shining fitfully, and the very brightness of the happy hours making the dark season seem more dense and dreadful. “Peaceful hours once enjoyed,” leaving by their memory “an aching void.” O! dear reader, this is not the standard of true Christianity. This is not the experience which should be the portion of believers. This does not tally with the Word of God, nay, the blessed truths of the New Testament allow no place for this uncertainty in God’s people.
“If I could only be sure I was saved,” said Mrs. S., “yet sometimes I think I really am. But then I fear again, lest I am only thinking my thoughts, and that it is not the Spirit of God in me.”
“You are looking within, perhaps. Just think for a moment of your bright seasons, and say what it is that makes you then feel confident.”
“At those times I am thinking of Christ,” was the reply.
“Then why do you not continue looking at Christ by faith?”
“O! I dare not. Suppose I am not real after all?”
“Now, dear friend, just try to call back what it was that gave you your first hope. No doubt it was something peculiar, some special word of God.”
In a moment Mrs. S. replied, “It was just thus: I was almost worn out with sorrow, and as I was getting into my bed I turned round and seemed to see CHRIST written upon the wall, and looking at that gave me relief.”
“Well, that is good news, indeed, and now let us turn to your doubting moments—the dark hours. Are you not, then, just taking a sponge full of unbelief and wiping away the letters of that blessed Name, and writing up your own name in its place? Pray read this plain, this simple text— ‘As ye have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in Him.’ Now, how did you receive Christ?”
“By looking at His Name,” responded our friend.
“Exactly. ‘And,’ saith the Scriptures, ‘as ye received, so walk.’ You looked as a poor helpless one, as one wearied out with wretched self. When you received Christ it was as your ALL—all Christ, no self. And as you received Him, so you are to walk in Him. Your walk must be by still looking off self to Him, by still having no confidence in the flesh, by still hoping for no improvement. You will never succeed in walking as a Christian but by faith.”
“Well, that makes me feel Better,” said Mrs. S., with a sigh of relief. “But do you really think I should keep loving Christ if I kept looking to Him like this?”
“O! ask yourself, how do the little children love you? Is it not by calling to mind your love to ‘them? But learn another lesson from the child. See what this Scripture adds—‘Rooted and built up in Him.’ I remember a child in whose little garden some seeds were sown, and how do you think she satisfied herself that the seed was alive?”
With a smile, Mrs. S. said, “I dare say she picked the earth from its roots to see if it were really living.”
“Ah! but why smile at the silly child? Are you not trying to see if your plant has roots? No wonder the little girl’s plant never flourished, and that until she let it alone it was always a sickly thing. Give up all thoughts of self, and let your faith be in every way ‘in Him.’”
It must be all “Him” for everything: Christ, the object of faith; Christ, the power of walk; Christ, in whom the soul grows firm and stable; and if these things be so in us, then, as a result, abundant praise shall redound through us to God’s glory.
The Knowledge of God
God alone is the teacher of the knowledge of Himself, and he who would know God must needs go to God’s school to be taught.
Natural science is acquired by toil and search, the knowledge of God is gained by faith in His word. God’s ways are not man’s. The first lesson learned in God’s school is faith, and all must enter this school at the infant class, for except a man be converted and become as a little child he will fail to know God.