No doubt among the readers of these pages there will be Christians to whom sin is as a foreign body in them, and others whose old nature is still practically themselves. To use a simile we may compare the one class to militia, the other to regular soldiers. Outwardly both wear the government's uniform, both carry arms, both are drilled, both are soldiers, and yet between the two lies, an immense difference. If the militiaman is an artisan, or a tradesman, when he has his uniform on, he is an artisan and a tradesman still. He thinks of his work or his shop, and he feels that being in the militia is something put on, but that he himself is a civilian. Not so with the regular soldier. He, too, may have been an artisan or a tradesman, but he is one no longer. It is not merely that he wears the uniform, but he himself is a soldier. A long course of separate life in the barracks, of constant association with fellow-soldiers, and of daily drill, has so completely broken the old ties that he can actually go back to the very shop where he worked and feel he is not of it, he does not belong to it, all his tastes, yes, he himself is changed. Now we are called "soldiers of Jesus Christ," not militiamen. Not to put on Christianity at times but to be living Christian men and women, and the only way we can express what spirit we are of is by our bodies. Hence the whole question is, to what do I now yield my members? Is it to the old nature, the foreign body that still dwells in me? No; I will use them myself. I love truth, I love holiness, I love the Lord, and I will serve Him with my tongue, my hands, and my feet. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Think not, however, this is the work of a day. The old nature which has been yourself in the past, and has had sole control over all your members may manifest itself by its promptings. It is only by reckoning ourselves dead to sin, and alive unto God, that our members cease to be under the sway of the old master and we become accustomed to the new. You will find the old and new occupation for lips, hands and feet, in Eph. 4 and 5.
May the Lord make each of us true soldiers of Jesus Christ, men who have practically so broken the power of the old life as to be able to return to old scenes and associations as new creatures in Christ Jesus.
We have as yet said nothing as to the channel in which the new nature flows. As this paper is already long enough, we will therefore leave the unfolding of the new life for another time.
(Continued and To be continued.)