Col. 3-In order to be able practically to exhibit risen life down here, we have to see that the life itself is not here, though we have to exhibit it here-that Christ was down in our circumstances till the cross, but that now He has taken us into His, and has gone entirely out of ours-has left them altogether behind Him-bad and good both. He has gone entirely out of them, and we are risen with Him.
This then defines our position as to this life: that it is out of everything here, because Christ is, and not because we are; and that we have to express that life, where we are, and not where He is.
Now this risen life we are to practically bring out here in two ways. First, as to our members; second, as to our relationships. We have His death to set aside our members; His life to fulfill our relationships.
How am I to mortify my members?-By the death of Christ. It is not my death; it is Christ's death, which I am to bring in on myself. The death of Christ is my weapon, and my only one. And can this weapon ever be anything but perfect and complete in its action? The only thing is that it be brought to bear. The weapon itself cannot be improved. It is there as perfect for the babe that is born to day, as it is for the saint at any age. The weapon cannot be sharper, though you may get sharper in using it. Its action is perfect every time it is used, only you do not use it continuously.
And, as to my relationships, I have His risen life. It is not whether I am a good husband; I may not be a good one; but am I seeking to please Christ? As a father is it to please Christ I seek? How shall I stand with respect to these relationships in a scene where they will have all passed away? If I have sought only to please my wife, there will be nothing of it left; but all wherein as a husband I seek to please Christ will stand for eternity.
As a servant too. How everything depends on the object. I may do the highest service with the lowest object, or I may do the lowest with the highest. A servant sweeping a room, and seeking therein to " serve the Lord Christ," has as high an object in doing it as the apostle Paul had when preaching the most wonderful truths. It is the object that is everything.
But, in thus seeking to walk, we must remember, that' t is only as we have divine power for it that we can fulfill these relationships. It is only as I walk in the power of a scene where they are not, that I can please Christ in them here where they are. The Lord grant us to know what it is in divine power to bring in thus His death to mortify our members, and His risen life to fulfill our relationships.
(C. E. SH.)