“The soul that
really loves Christ, then, delights in holiness and spends all his strength on
it.
You must be holy
before you can live a holy life. If a ship has not been constructed right it
will never sail properly; and if your heart has not been molded again by the
Spirit's workmanship and fashioned according to the law of the "new
creature," you will never have a holy walk 2 Corinthians 5:17. It is grace
in the vessel of the heart, which feeds profession in the lamp-- holiness in
the life! This thorough change of heart needs to be examined through two
questions.
There was a time
when sin looked as good to you as it did to Adam when Eve offered him the
forbidden fruit. And unless you change your mind it will always seem pleasant.
Circumstances might keep you from expressing that secret longing for sin, but
inwardly your heart will be continually hankering after it. When two lovers are
kept apart by their friends, one will eventually break loose and escape to the
other, as long as their affection stays strong. Thus lust will lure you back
again and again unless you are convicted to hate it as much as you once loved
it.
Are you content to
live in Christ? There is no reason to fear degeneration after Christ has tied
you to His service by the heartstrings of love. The devil finds it easy to
separate a person from kingdom work when the person never really liked doing it
anyway. A student learns more in a week when he is pleased with the sweet tast
of learning then he will in a month when he attends a class merely to please
his teacher. A man is diligent about the thing that satisfies him. If a
person's heart is turned to his garden, for instance, it will become a
beautiful place. Out of his excitement he spends hours of hard work growing
rare, delicate flowers that please him.
The soul that
really loves Christ, then, delights in holiness and spends all his strength on
it. If only this man can be more holy, he does not mind if he is behind in
every other race.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
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