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Section One
Part One -
Introduction
To get holiness people to live holy lives is an exceedingly great
task. To live a strictly holy life, just like our blessed Lord, is
grand and glorious, but it is difficult to get people to live that
way. It can be done, but it is not being done by very many. There
are many who desire to live holy, but they fail to put forth the
earnest effort and live it right up to what they know they should.
They want to live closer to God, but they do not do it. They do not
mean to neglect, and yet they do neglect. They know they should pray
more, but they do not pray more. Many of these dear people confess
that they talk too much and speak impatiently, but we see little or
no improvement. They fret and worry and are anxious, and know they
should not be, and yet they continue on in the same life. They are
not getting the heavenly joys and holy comforts out of life that
they should. The purpose of this little booklet is to help just such
people.
Dear saints, we do not mean to censure you or condemn you, but we
tell you in plain words with a heart full of love, you must live
better. You speak too sharp and harsh in your home, you speak light
and idle words, you talk too much, and you pray too little. Is this
not true? Well, why do you not live better? You may say that you do
want to and you try, but you do not succeed. You improve some for a
few days after hearing a stirring sermon and then you are back in
the same way. You must try harder, be more determined, more
resolute, never give up, take time to pray, guard against talking so
much, and ask God to help you. To the man using tobacco you will
say, "You must get so decided that you will quit it if it kills
you." It is so with your impatient speeches, your fret and worry,
your too much talk; you must quit these if it kills you. You need to
pray more, meditate more, lift up your soul to God more, have more
reverence and holy awe upon your soul, live more in godly fear, have
more of the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon you, and more peace
and power and glory in your soul. You can have it. It will cost you
something, but you can have it if you will. We love you fervently.
We want to help you. We promise you and God that by His grace we
will live just what we preach to you. If there is one who after
reading this little booklet, will get in earnest and walk closer to
God, we shall be repaid a thousand fold for our labor. Our hearts
are burdened. Too many of God's saints are living beneath their
privilege.
Working Out Your Salvation
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. 2:12).
What are you here told to do? Work out your salvation. How are you
told to do it? With fear and trembling. Are you doing it? You are
burdened down with the cares of this life and are not much alarmed
over it. Do you not know that it is the cares of this life that
choke out the Word of God? Then just a little of the cares of this
life ought to alarm you. You thought salvation was by faith and not
works. But faith and works go together. There is a work for you to
do to keep saved. You must have faith, but if your faith is real it
will be attended with works in fear and trembling.
A little girl comes home from school with a fever. The fond mother
says to the father, "I fear it is a contagion."
He replies, "I fear it is, and we must do something."
They get in earnest and call mightily on God and the little girl is
well in the morning. Thank God. A few evenings later some trouble
comes up in the home. The husband speaks in a harsh, cutting tone to
the wife. She replies in the same manner. There is a contagion in
that home, a terrible contagion. Now is the time to fear and
tremble, and to call mightily to God in deep repentance and not to
cease until the heavenly winds are wafted down and that contagion is
swept out of the heart and out of the home and a sweet peace is shed
over all. That is works in fear and trembling.
A man buys a home. He pays cash, all he has. The contract is made
out and signed, and now he goes to working out the monthly payments.
He moves in, takes possession and goes to work. One day the final
payment is made and the warranty deed is given. A man gives all he
has to Christ and gets saved. The contract is signed. He takes
possession and goes to work in fear and trembling. Some day he will
have it all worked out and his heavenly home is forever secured.
When the "little foxes" get in, get them out at once. That is part
of your work. Another part is to go about helping others all you
can. Another work is to do much praying and keep the heart full of
blooming flowers for the Master.
Meditating On God and His Word
To meditate on God and His Word is to calmly and quietly fix the
mind upon the great fact of God and His Word until that fact has
time to enter the mind and pervade it with its influence. Meditation
is the quiet thinking, the applying of the mind attentively to the
great truths of the Bible and the Author of it. We must meditate on
God's law that we might come to know it as we should, and then to
love it and then to practice it. No one can live a holy life without
serious and frequent reflection of the mind upon the truths of our
great salvation and the love of God. You may be able to live a good
moral life; you might have an exterior life good enough to hold the
confidence of man, but holy living comes from the living Word of God
hidden in the heart. Holy living is not only the refraining from
doing the wrong and the doing of the right, but it is the refraining
from doing the wrong from an inward principle of holy hatred of the
wrong inwrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and a doing of the
right in the life and holiness of God. It is more than the good
deeds done by human life; it is good deeds done by the life of God
in the human life. There is a vast difference. There is danger,
great danger, in holiness professors attending to the outward life
to the neglect of the inward life. So long as they do not do
anything wrong, and so long as they do things that are right they
think themselves safe. We can live good lives and, like the church
at Ephesus, lose the love of God out of the soul. Right living may
be only man in action; holy living is God in action. Meditation is
positively necessary to the keeping of God in the life.
Meditation is the holding of Bible truths in the mind until the
virtue is steeped out of them and enters the mind and heart. It
means to be in the midst of a matter, to have it in your very
center. You need not fear losing yourself in meditation on the law
of God. The more fully you lose yourself in meditation on God the
more you will be like Him. You cannot love Christ very deeply
without meditation. You cannot become strong or pure or deep in God
without letting the mind dwell lovingly on Him.
Dear Christian reader, do you meditate? Do you go apart each day and
with the mind wholly detached from every thing of earth, fix it
quietly, calmly on God and some portion of His Word? Do you become
lost to every thing of earth in the loving thought of God?
"There is a blest pavilion,
A sacred inner court,
The place of God's own dwelling,
With all the world shut out.
"Oh, holy resting place!
Oh, calm and pure retreat!
Where God unveils His face,
And life is only sweet."
Do you enter into this holy place with the world shut out and there
commune with God, there think of His love and the great plan of
salvation until your soul is aflame with heavenly love and light and
peace making it the easiest thing in the world to come out and
practice the wonderful truths of salvation ? If you will meditate on
the theme of salvation as you should, life will become sweet and the
truths of salvation will naturally live themselves out in you. But
the question is: do you meditate? Very, very few of you do. Oh, how
can we help you? Will you not spend fifteen minutes twice a day to
deep, profound thought of God? We beg of you to do it. Will you not
do it for your soul's sake and for Jesus' sake? If you do not, there
will be things get into your life that ought not to be there. There
will be a little too much talk, a little restlessness and
impatience, a little fret and worry, a burdening of the cares of
this life, and perhaps bits of worldliness will get in and you will
not know it, and you may go to some places where Jesus really would
not go. But O, beloved, if you will practice meditating on God and
His law day and night, there will be a holy flame enkindled in your
soul and such heavenly sweetness and peace that the cares of this
life, and fret and worry will no more light on you than flies on a
heated furnace.
There are many preachers and thousands of people professing holiness
that talk beautifully about meditation, saying what a blessed and
glorious thing it is, and yet they do not practice it. My dear
reader, you must do more than talk and more than read this and say
it is good and true. You must meditate in all that the word means.
Meditation brings God into the soul and causes you to live holy in
every act of life.
Christ's Epistle
"Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ." (2 Cor. 3
:3). "All can see that you are a letter from Christ." (20th Cent.)
The Christian is Christ's "Open Letter." His life is a message from
Christ to the world. His daily walk is a genuine letter from the
Saviour of men. The Christian life is written by the same hand that
wrote the New Testament and they read just alike, word for word. If
you profess to be a Christian be sure your daily life is the
handwriting of Jesus. Your life in your home amid its trials and
provocations should read like God's Word. It is very confusing and
discouraging to others if your life and the New Testament read
differently.
The purpose of a letter is to convey the thoughts and mind of the
writer. The Christian is that kind of letter. Men come to know the
thoughts of God by reading the Christian's life. He shows Christ's
patience in his patience. His life is not his life, but Christ's
life in his life. The life of a saint is a letter in which the world
can read Christ's gentleness, kindness, humility, sobriety,
calmness, sympathy, love, holiness, separateness from the world and
hatred of sin. Do not think this standard is too high. If you will
take time to pray and seek after this life with determined effort,
leaning hard on Christ's helpful arm, it will surprise you what a
wonderful and beautiful letter you can get to be.
Mind The Little Things
Take care of the pennies and the dimes, and you will have the
dollars. A pin scratch has caused the death of folks. If you begin
to think a thing is too small to be given attention, you are
entering a dangerous path. Little bricks build a great house, and
little sins make a great sinner. You can put more love in doing
little things than in great things. There is less danger of self
being in doing the little things than in doing great things. By
guarding against every little evil and fault, and faithfully doing
every little good thing possible, you can build up a beautiful holy
life. Guard your thoughts and words. Lift up your soul to God many
times a day. Keep the Lord set before your face. Spend your spare
moments on your knees in a sweet little talk with Jesus.
Devotion
"She hath wrought a good work on me." (Mark 14 :61. This woman had
an emotion in her soul and it swelled and longed for expression. She
was charged with wastefulness. No, no it was not waste. Had she not
poured out the fragrant ointment then, there would have been waste.
Her soul panted for some way to express her devotion, and she took
this way and her love was increased and tendered and she was
qualified to be a greater blessing to the world. Had she not given
expression to her love, she would have lost love and there would
have been the waste. Whatever elevates us and serves to make us more
capable of doing good is not waste.
She wrought this work on Jesus. "To what purpose was this deed done
?" That should not be the question. "For whose sake was it done?"
That is the question that settles the matter. Everything done from
the stirring of love in the heart for Jesus makes it a good work.
Working a good work on Jesus Christ is the law of Christian
devotion.
True devotion is that disposition of heart that moves it to perform
with tender affection and burning fervor all its services to God.
The bowing of the knees, the prostrating of the body on the ground,
the lifting of the eyes heavenward, the wringing of the hands, and
the pious sighs and groans are not full proof of a devoted heart. In
all acts of true devotion there is a high esteem, a profound
respect, a holy adoration for the Divine Majesty; there is an humble
acknowledgment of the soul's dependence and duty; there is an
intense desire to lavish the heart's love upon Jesus by doing all
things for His sake.
No exercising of the soul is so ennobling, so hallowing, so
consoling as the performing of humble, sincere acts of devotion.
True devotion is attended by self-sacrifice. Devotion is more than
sentiment. It is a principle fixed in the core of our being. We
cannot always be in acts of devotion, but the principle is in the
soul and it expresses itself on every fitting occasion.
"I want a principle within
Of jealous godly fear,
A sensitiveness to sin,
A pain to feel it near;
Tender as the apple of the eye,
O God, my conscience make!
Awake my soul when sin is nigh,
And keep it still awake."
Intensity
"As the hart pants after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God." (Psa. 42:1). Here is intensity. By intensity we mean
that burning passion of the soul after God. That intense desire to
be holy as He is holy, and to glorify Him in all words and acts of
life. "I opened my mouth and panted: for I longed for thy
commandments" (Psa. 119:131). Here is intensity. Panting after the
commandments of God like a thirsty animal for water. The great task
of the overseers of God's church today is to keep God's people out
of a careless, go-easy, indifferent life. How few thirst after God.
How few thirst and hunger for the salvation of souls. Preachers may
go over the country holding revivals and find entertainment and
enjoyment in doing so, but even of those, how few have such a
burning passion for souls that they will wrestle with God in the
midnight hour or early morning hour or any convenient time for the
salvation of the lost. They may think more of what gain they will
make. This would be an awful crime, but it may be one of which some
are guilty. There are holiness people who act very much as if no one
were going to hell. Others act as if they were just as holy as they
cared to be. They seem to have no thirsting for greater perfection
of life. They act as if there were no improvement to be made.
The need of today is a greater passion for goodness, a more intense
longing for greater Christlikeness and a greater burden for those
for whom our dear Savior gave His life. "Rivers of water run down
mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." (Psa. 119:136). Here is
intensity. When did you shed a tear over sinners lost? Do not these
words shame you? Dear people, the house is on fire, how can ye keep
on sleeping ?
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Section Two
Only One Way
A tourist asked at the service station the way to a certain town.
The directions were carefully given. The tourist said, "You think
this is the best way, do you?"
The service man replied, "It is not only the best way, but it is the
only way."
The Bible is the only way to heaven. Do you live to all it teaches
every day? Read the sixth chapter of Matthew over very carefully.
Stop at verses 6, 20, 22, 28, and 33.
The Sanctified
Sometimes the word "Sanctification" means that which is set apart,
consecrated. In this meaning the vessels in the Temple were holy.
But there is a higher sense. It means a state of perfect holiness.
Christ perfects them that are sanctified.
Holiness means inward likeness to God. Holy living means that the
outward life is in full harmony with the will of God. It means very
much to be holy as God is holy and to live in harmony with the
Divine mind. It can be done, but it is not every one who professes
holiness that is doing it. We ought to live in this way for Jesus'
sake. He is happiest when we are holiest. He is glorified when we do
all things to His glory. In those who live holy lives is His ideal
realized. We should not seek holiness that we might be happy, but
because it is God's will. Doing the will of God should be our meat
and drink. We cannot do God's will except we be holy, therefore seek
holiness and holy living. Be careful, oh, be careful about being
holy in the little things of life. If people live holy at all it is
in the greater things. If they come short of living holy in the
little things of everyday home life, they have missed true holy
living.
A Fable With A Lesson
Have you read the story of a traveler whose horse was eaten by a
wolf ? The story says that a traveler riding through a lonely
district on horseback was attacked by a wolf. The traveler, somewhat
heedless of the wolf, went on his way. The wolf from behind began
eating on the horse without the traveler's knowledge. He ate and he
ate until he had eaten into the horse. He kept on eating until
finally he ate to the head and to the feet and the traveler came
riding into his town on a wolf instead of a horse. All that was left
of the horse was the skin. There was a wolf inside.
Some folks start out for heaven saved and sanctified. They are
attracted by the cares of this life, by neglect of prayer, by
impatience, by idle words, by the pleasures of the world, by worldly
thoughts. To these they do not give much heed. But they eat and they
eat and they feed on the spiritual life, and they do it so slowly
and so subtly that the traveler is unaware that his spiritual steed
is being eaten away. It will be well indeed if he discovers before
he reaches his destination that he is riding on an empty profession.
Members One Of Another
"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another." (Romans 12:5). In these words we have a picture of
the oneness of the people of God. They are one body. This is the
body of Christ. Saints, God's holy people, constitute His body. He
dwells in this body (Eph. 1:23; 2 Cor. 6:16). The apostle
illustrates this by the human body (1 Cor. 12:14-24). We can learn
many a lesson about the body of Christ-the Church of God-by the
study of the human body. Paul here says (v. 26), "And whether one
member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be
honored, all the members rejoice with it." These words, perhaps,
express as great depth of this oneness as any other words in this
illustration. This experience is true in the real body of Christ. If
one saint suffers all the other saints suffer with this suffering
one. Let us examine our experience. When one member is honored all
the members rejoice with the honored one. We ought not to pass over
this indifferently. There is a solemn truth here. We should not say
it is true in our life if it is not really true. If the feet of your
body are honored with a nice pair of shoes, see how rejoicing the
hands go to work to place these shoes upon the feet. It is so in the
body of Christ.
Suppose you have held a prominent position in the Church. The time
comes when you must surrender it to another. Do you do so
rejoicingly? Man can say that he does it rejoicingly when in the
heart it is not true. We ought not to be satisfied unless it is as
true as heaven in our heart. Suppose you were aspiring for a
position, but it is given to another. Do you rejoice in your heart?
It is that way in the human body, and it is even more so in the
Church of God. Suppose you are given $100.00. You rejoice. Why do
you rejoice? Do you rejoice because of what use you can make of this
money for your own convenience and need? You should rejoice because
of what use you can make of it in honoring or glorifying Christ.
This should be the sole cause of your rejoicing. Let me tell you how
you can discover whether you rejoice in it for this one cause.
Suppose the $100 be given to another who will use it to glorify God
equally as much as you, do you rejoice just as much as if it had
been given to you? If not, you are not measuring fully to 1 Cor.
12:26.
Holy Thoughts for Quiet Hours
1. Anything less than perfect dependence upon God is a denial of
Him.
2. Life has a language. To live holy is to have all our words and
deeds to say, "Hallowed be Thy name."
3. The rays of light that proceed from the sun are as pure as the
sun. The life that flows from God must be as free from imperfections
as He.
4. If the human soul would grow in moral stature and moral beauty
and fruitfulness, it must keep open to the light of God and absorb
that light as it falls upon it.
5. If you are not showing to the world around you that there is
something better than wealth, honor, position, earthly pleasure, and
the good opinions and praise of men, you are not showing forth the
life of Christ.
6. He does not love us truly who does not love us well enough to
tell us our faults. To love one another is to have an intense desire
to see one another free from faults.
7. The man who fails to give us reproof when needed, but gives us
approval instead or holds back deserving rebuke for fear of
offending, is more cruel than he who withholds bread from us when we
are hungry.
8. He who will listen to any words of levity, jesting, foolishness,
tale-bearing, tattling, and show no disapproval makes himself a
partaker of the sin.
9. It has been arranged in the plan of redemption that God and man
can be so absorbed each in the other that they would think alike,
will alike, feel and love and work together. This is man at his real
self.
10. Man is to be loved because of what he is worth to God. We get
some estimate of man's worth to Christ by the terrible woe He
pronounces upon those who would injure one of those who believe in
Him.
11. The nearer you live like Christ the nearer you live like you
ought to live. The more you love Him, and love with Him, and love
all things for Him the more you will be like Him.
12. The trouble is not that you do not know what is right; the
trouble is that you do not lay hold upon God to help you to live
like you know you should.
The Fear of Man
We doubt if there be any other one thing that prevents God's people
living unto God as they should so much as the fear of man. It is so
very subtle and cunning that many may have it and not be aware of
it. There is an independence of man that is wrong and there is an
independence that is most Christlike. Holy living is to live unto
God though all the world might oppose. Our dearest friend on earth
must not be allowed to cause us to deviate one hair's breadth from
trueness to God. Here is one of the places in the Christian's life
that should be closely watched and guarded. Peter swerved from the
true path when he refused to eat with the Gentiles for fear of the
Jews. This was after Pentecost. Paul reproved him. This took some
courage on the part of Paul, but faithfulness required it.
"The fear of man bringeth a snare." (Prov. 29 :25). Many a one has
fallen into this snare. Alas, how many have made compromise with man
for man's favor! "Conscious dependence upon God is the spirit of
independence toward all men." Perfect love casts out all fear of
man. Those who can be influenced by men are not made perfect in
love. It is argued by some that we should desire all men to think
well of us that we might do them good. This is true, but oh, how
careful we need to be that it is solely that we "might do them
good." Beware lest there be something of self there. We should
desire to have influence with men for Jesus' sake, but for no other
purpose. If faithfulness to God causes you to lose influence with
men, then it were better for them and you also that you lose it. If
you have to step aside from godly living to have influence with men,
you are ensnared.
The apostle said, "But with me it is a very small thing that I
should be judged of you, or of man's judgment." (1 Cor. 4 3). To
suppress or modify truth by word or act is coming short of holy
living. To give aid, or to abet by word or deed any spirit of
levity, worldliness, or untruthfulness through man's influence is
unfaithfulness to God.
Lifting Up Jesus
"Lift Him up by living as a Christian ought, Let the world in you
the Saviour see."
Is this true in our life all the year through? Is it true all the
day through? Is Jesus seen in all you do? When things go wrong in
the home and you are tried and tempted, do you lift up Christ in
these times? We sing the song heartily, but do we really and truly
live it day in and day out? It is dangerous to sing such songs and
then pass on and not live them. To know to do a thing and then
through neglect or carelessness fail to live it is a very serious
matter. Keep self out of sight and set Christ in view. Two men went
to hear a preacher preach one Sunday morning. One said to the other
after the preaching, "That was an eloquent discourse; he is a
wonderful preacher." In the evening they went to hear another
preacher. After the services one said to the other, "What a
wonderful Saviour is Jesus." People sing about Jesus being lifted up
in our lives; preachers preach about it, but what God wants is some
people to live it. Live it, dear Christian, in all the details of
everyday life. Live it in thought, word, and deed. Have the imprint
of Christ's life upon every word and act. You can do it if you
associate with Christ as with a loving friend, if you take time to
read, pray, and meditate so as to assimilate the life of Christ into
your own. Be encouraged and set to work with a determination to win.
I will lift up my Saviour
In everything I do;
I will keep self far out of sight
That Christ may be in view.
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Section Three
Saying and Doing
Pilate said of Jesus, "I find no fault in Him." That was his
conception of Christ. He saw before him a faultless Christ. Then he
added, "Take Him and crucify Him." These two expressions stand
directly one against the other. He spoke correctly about Christ, but
he acted wrongly. Many are thinking and talking rightly enough about
Jesus, but they do not act rightly.
The Church of God
The Church of God is the only institution on earth that is of
heavenly origin. It is the only institution on the shores of time
that will continue to exist in eternity. All else will pass away
with the closing of time. The glory of empires, the magnificence of
civilization, the grandeur of monarchies of time will have no
reflection amid the glories of heaven. The splendor of earth's
fortunes, the pomp and show of earth's glories, the renown of
eloquence and oratory, the fame of schools of learning, the
enchantments of beautiful forms and ceremonies of creeds will find
no imprint, will have no representation in that land beyond the
grave. Only the Church of God will shine there. It came down from
heaven, and will return to heaven.
The Church of God is God's body, not only on earth, but also through
all eternity. The Church is God's habitation now and forever. God
will dwell in His people and His people in Him while the cycles of
eternity roll on unending. The Church of God on earth is God's
incarnation among men. As men read the history of the true Church
they will read the biography of God. The life of the Church is His
life. The world is God's creation as a Creator, the Church is His
creation as a Life-Giver. It is His own life. It lives in Him and He
in it. The Church is a creation in Christ. The Church is not created
in Christ by a mere creative act, but by being born of God. The
Church is born of God in Christ and is the offspring of God. God
loves the world as His creation. He loves the Church as the life of
His life.
The Church of God on earth contains heavenly elements and nothing
that is not heavenly. The Church bears God's image. God views His
own likeness in His Church. The Church is a mirror which reflects
all the Divine perfections. The Church of God is a living thing. It
lives upon the life of God. God's life flows through its veins. The
life of Jesus circulates freely through His Church, as freely as the
blood circulates through the human body- the church is His body. It
feeds on heavenly food. It breathes the atmosphere of heaven.
God and man united in Christ is the Church. In the Church of God is
the uniting of all men with God and with each other. The manifold
wisdom of God, the mysteries of God, the character of God is
revealed through His church. God in His beauty shines out of the
Church. She is all fair; there is no spot in her. God made the sun,
moon, and all the shining stars, but He does not make them His
dwelling place. When He built His Church He said, "This is my rest;
here I will dwell and multiply myself; here I have found such beauty
and worth as to call out the fullest capacity of my love; here I
find the fullest complacency of my being, here I see of the travail
of my soul and I am satisfied. "
The Church of God is attended by the ministry of angels. It is the
only institution on earth that angels desire to look into. They pass
every other thing by, but stop at the Church to admire her beauty
and to bestow their ministry. It is the only institution on earth
that affords joy to the angels. It is the only institution over
which they sing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men." All of the conquests of the Church on earth
bring joy to the angels.
The Church of God is the only institution on earth that can worship
God. God, to be worshipped, must be worshipped in Spirit and truth,
and nothing but the Church has the Spirit and the truth. The Church
is full of heavenly instincts. God gives instinct to the bird and
this instinct teaches it to do things. Heavenly instincts fill the
Church, teaching it to do heavenly things. Its life is heavenly
life. It lives by heavenly things, and divine things are wrought out
by her activities. The Church is Holy Spirit-filled and Holy-Spirit
governed. The Church is in the world, but the world is not in the
Church. There is no room for the world in the Church. It is filled
with divine things. The fish is in the salty ocean, but the fish is
not salty. If you die in the Church you do not go out of it, if you
die out of it you can never get in it. There is no sin in the
Church. Her law is the law of holiness. All honor in the Church is
given to the Holy Trinity. Some day the Church of God is going to be
caught up to heaven and receive a faultless presentation into the
immediate presence of God's glory and the joys of heaven will be
full and complete and be undiminished while eternity rolls on
forever.
Mortify
The word "mortify" is found in Col. 3: "Mortify therefore your
members which are upon the earth." (Col. 3:5). The word "mortify"
means to "put to death." The 20th Cent. translation reads,
"Therefore destroy all that is earthly in you." It has been believed
and taught that every thing earthly about us is put to death when we
are sanctified as a second work of grace or a cleansing of the heart
from carnality. They think that there is nothing to be put to death
or to mortify after we are sanctified. These people to whom Paul was
writing were dead and their life was hid with Christ in God. They
were dead and yet there is something about them that needs to be put
to death. This can be because man is a two-fold being. The inner man
may be dead to sin and the world-sanctified-yet the outward man has
passions, desires, appetites that must be controlled, that must not
be allowed to break out beyond their legitimate bounds. Now we will
tell you a secret. What we are now going to tell you is the secret
principle of holy living. It is the thread that runs through the
entire life. It is "sacrifice." Listen, no man can keep the body in
perfect control who does not keep that body on the altar of daily
sacrifice. If you cease to sacrifice, you cease to control. To
sacrifice is to mortify. Habits of virtue cannot be acquired except
at the expense of sacrifice. He who is not constantly making
sacrifice is not advancing in the Christian life. Sacrifice in the
little things of daily life. The secret of living holy is sacrifice
in the little things. It is not in being absent from ball rooms,
ball games, theatres, political gatherings, and such like worldly
things. These things have but little or no temptation to people who
are sanctified. It is no sacrifice for them to abstain from such
evils. Where the holy need to watch is to not let love of self get
in. Holy people have a self, but they must guard against an undue
love of self. Keep that self on the altar of sacrifice. Guard
against taking too much thought about bodily comforts. It is no sin
to give the body some comfort if it is not done at the expense of
another's comfort. Then you need to have a care when you are alone
not to provide too greatly for the body's comforts, lest you become
selfish and find it difficult to sacrifice your comforts for
another's comfort.
To indulge the body in late rising, in dainty foods, in luxuries, in
ease, in things pleasant to the eye-fine things, in idleness, in the
avoidance of hardships, in the shrinking from bearing another's
burden, and a disposition to lay your own on another is the way to
become selfish. Sacrifice is the law of the Christian life.
Sacrificing bodily comforts daily in the home for the comforts of
others is helpful to the soul in its upward way. Where there is no
sacrifice there is no holiness. Where there is no self-denying,
there is no love to God. Where the body is not kept under, the soul
is enslaved. The beauty of holiness never grows out of bodily
indulgence, but out of bodily sacrifice. If you would live holy,
destroy that which is earthly, sensual, and lustful in you.
Contentment
"Be content with such things as ye have." What is it to be
contented? When we are contented we are not wishing for something we
do not have. To be contented with just what you have is to not be
wishing for something you do not have. Paul said, "For I have
learned, in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." (Phil.
4:11). If Paul could learn that lesson, we can learn it. A brother
was asked what kind of weather he thought it would be for the next
few days. He answered, "Just the sort of weather that suits me." The
inquirer was eager to know what sort of weather suited him. He
replied, "Just what ever kind suits the Lord."
"But godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Tim. 6:6). There
may be some who do not know the true meaning of these words. They do
not mean that you have great gain. They mean that if you have
godliness and the contentment that always attends it you have great
gain. You cannot separate godliness and contentment. If you have
godliness you have contentment, and you cannot have contentment
without godliness. We come just as far short of true godliness as we
come short of contentment. If you do not have perfect contentment,
you do not possess God in the fullness. The fullness of God in the
soul satisfies the soul. It leaves no void. Such a soul has perfect
peace, fullness of joy, rivers of pleasures, and is happy in its
lot.
To be contented you must come to know, and know it well, that
nothing can happen to you which is not in harmony with the will of
God. Without a thorough knowledge of this there will be
discontentment. Nothing can disturb the peace of those who know in
their heart that God's will is in every thing that comes to them in
life. Instead of striving to be rich, strive to be contented with
what you have. A contented life is yours, if you will have it. It is
a grand way to live.
Then, whatsoever wind cloth blow,
My heart is glad to have it so;
And, blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.
Sonship With God
"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the sons of God." (1 John 3:1). "Father" and
"son." Blessed relationship; life of life. There is fatherhood in
God, but it can be realized by the man only by being born of God.
God must come into man's humanity and man must come into God's
divinity that he might realize God as his Father and himself as
God's son. This is made possible in Christ. God's divinity and man's
humanity are united in Christ. God can come to man in Christ's
divinity, and man can come to God in Christ's humanity. God's
divinity can enter into our humanity and we become partakers of the
divine nature. We can come to know God only in Christ. We can not
see God only as we see Him in Christ. We can come to be like God
only in Christ Jesus. Christ is the image of the invisible God. (
Col. 1:5 ). Christ will show us the Father in Himself. (John 14 :8,
9.) You can become like God only to the extent you see Him in
Christ. Suppose you never saw your mother's father. Your mother
loved, honored and revered her father. She thought he was the most
exemplary man she knew. Her highest ambition was that her son be a
man like her father. She knew that to have him grow up to be such a
man she must show her father to her son. She imbibed the spirit of
her father. His character was inwrought in her being. She taught in
word all she could to her boy about his grandfather, and she showed
the image of her father to the boy by living the life, and thus the
boy saw his grandfather in and through his mother and was fashioned
into his image. If we will listen and obey Christ's teaching, look
into His holy life and imitate it, we will grow into the likeness of
the Father.
God's Law in Man's Mind and Heart
"I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts." (Hebrews 8:10.) To live holy lives we must have God's Word
in both mind and heart. The same hand that writes it in the heart
also writes it in the mind. Studying the Bible is good, but not
sufficient. We must have written in the mind by the Holy Spirit what
we read in the book or it will profit us little or nothing. The Holy
Spirit never writes God's law in the mind except He writes them in
the heart also. When written in the heart, man obeys.
Sensibility
Sensibility includes sensitiveness, and sensitiveness is the power
to receive delicate impressions. The soul can be so sensitive that
it be made to feel what God feels. It can feel the presence of God
everywhere. It can also feel the presence of evil. This is a
wonderful safeguard of the soul. It feels the presence of evil in
the vagrant thought, in the lightly spoken word, the hasty action
and flees to God at once for refuge. It feels the presence of evil
in those little worldly things which many say are harmless. The
sensitive soul detects evil there and avoids them. It is acquainted
with the voice of the Shepherd. It can distinguish between His voice
and that of a stranger. The more perfect the manhood. the more
perfect the sensibility. The higher we rise into the manhood of
Jesus the quicker scented we become, the more easily we detect the
presence of God and the presence of sin. This is necessary to all
holy living. Many a soul today has lost the sensitiveness they once
experienced. Evil things that they once fled away from in horror
they are now embracing. It is our privilege to grow more sensitive
as we grow in years of service to God. The farther we walk with Him,
the closer we can walk with Him. We can keep step with Him more
perfectly.
The scriptures tell us that Christ was of such quick understanding
that He did not judge by the sight of His eyes or reprove by the
hearing of His ears (See Isa. 11:3). In the margin it reads, "scent
or smell." Christ was quick to detect an ill odor. He was sensitive
to the presence of sin. The more we become like Christ the more
sensitive we shall become. Christianity is a life. It is a Divine
life. In that life there are senses that can sense Divine things.
That life is susceptible to the impulses of the Holy Spirit. The
soul can feel God, taste Him, hear Him. It is "alive unto God." The
soul, in this Divine life, is not only inwardly sensible to all the
movements of the Holy Spirit, but is also sensitive to the feelings
of men. The sensitive soul feels, not only what is in God, but is
sensible also of what is in man. It is thus that when one member in
Christ's body, the Church, suffers, all the other members suffer
with it. They feel what the suffering member feels. Is that day
past? Not with all. The sensitive soul weeps with Christ over a lost
world. It feels what Jesus feels.
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Section Four
The Loss of Soul-Sensitiveness
Is it not true that in other days the bond of sympathy between
members in the Church of God was stronger than it is today? Did not
all the members suffer more keenly with the suffering member? When
the soul is quivering with Divine life and all its faculties
functioning properly, it suffers with all the suffering members of
Christ's body. It does more; it suffers with Christ the sin and
suffering of a wicked world. What were the sufferings of Christ
while here upon earth? It was not physical, but spiritual. His soul
was sorrowful because of the sins of the world. It is in this way
that we are to suffer with the Savior. Instead of weeping with
Christ over a sinful world, many professors of Christianity are
going on in their revelry, feasting, banqueting, in their pomp and
show, in their entertainments, amusements, and pleasures, in their
lust and pride.
Sensuality dulls the spiritual senses. None but the pure in heart
can enter the realm of soul-sensitiveness. You may study the art of
public speaking, you may receive degrees and honorary titles, you
may occupy prominent positions, you may discourse eloquently and
enthusiastically, but if you have not transparent purity of soul you
cannot feel the delicate promptings of the will of God. The sensual
cannot appreciate the beauty of purity. There are delicate lines in
it which they never see. They cannot enter into communion with a
holy God though they may discourse like an angel about Him. We
exhort you, saint of God, keep sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Keep
the world out of your eye. Keep in touch with God. Feel with Him,
love with Him, suffer with Him, rejoice with Him, sympathize with
Him over a lost world, be susceptible to all the feelings of His
great heart. Soul, remember that just a little affection for earthly
things dulls the soul's senses. The god of this world blinds the
eye. As the glass in the camera is sensitive to the light, so keep
your soul sensitive to heavenly impressions.
Keep sensitive, O soul of mine,
To God's holy will and Word;
Grow deeper, deeper every day
In the feelings of thy Lord.
Spiritual-Mindedness
"But to be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace." (Rom. 8:6). We ought to tremble before these words.
Can you read them and then pass on in a careless way, taking but
little thought about yourself to know whether you are carnally or
spiritually minded? You say that you cannot give a dictionary
definition. We are not asking for Webster's definition; we want you
to give yours from your own experience.
It is in the mind that thoughts are generated. The carnal mind
generates carnal thoughts, while the spiritual mind generates
spiritual thoughts. Carnal thoughts are thoughts about earthly
things, spiritual thoughts are thoughts about heavenly things.
Examine your thoughts. What are their trend? Are they mostly
worldward? Do worldly thoughts crowd in on your mind even when in
the secret place you kneel to pray? If they do, we say that we
deeply sympathize with you, but we must tell you in the greatest
kindness but seriousness that you are to blame. It ought not to be
that way. You can have it better. Our thoughts can be brought into
captivity. Christ, by His grace, will help us to control them. You
have been allowing them to dwell on temporal things. You do not have
to do it. If you have for a long time been allowing your thoughts to
dwell on the things of earth and little grooves have been cut in the
brain matter like the grooves on a phonograph record, it will take
some effort to change their course, but fear not, it can be done and
it must be done. The marginal reading of Col. 3:2 is, "Set your mind
on things above, and not on things on the earth." That is a plain,
comprehensive statement or command. Why do we not all do just what
we are here told to do? How can we hope to get on well in the
spiritual life and not do what the Bible says? Now let us not make
excuses, nor treat this with indifference. There is too much at
stake. Death and life are before us. For our mind to dwell on
"things on the earth," it means death; but for it to dwell on
"things above" it means life and peace. We can have which we will.
We are the framers of our destiny.
Col. 3:3 says, "For ye are dead." That is why you set your mind on
things above. People who are dead do not set their minds on things
to which they are dead. How can your mind be set on earthly things
and you be dead to earthly things and your life hid with Christ in
God? This is a serious matter and we advise you to take it
seriously. We said in our first chapter that we may appear to be
some times a little severe. If it takes that to get you to thinking
and considering, then it is best to be severe. What we fear is that
even severity will not get you in earnest about this matter. We fear
you will go on letting your mind float around on earthly things
nearly all day long. You are awake from five o'clock in the morning
until nine o'clock at night-sixteen hours. Have you given one solid
hour out of the sixteen to deep, profound thinking on heavenly
things? Now the fact is that a few moments at different times during
the day is all that is needed for the proper attending to the things
of this life, and to sum up this few moments they would not amount
to more than an hour and the other fifteen should be spent in
setting your mind on things above. Maybe you are a preacher and you
spend considerable time thinking about the Word of the Lord. That is
no more proof that you are spiritually minded than it is for the
school boy to think much about mathematics. Each is thinking about
the work he is engaged in. A spiritual mind does not spend near so
much time thinking about the work of God as it does about God. We
make far more effectual preachers by praying our messages down from
heaven into our souls than we do by study and sermonizing. We would
not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, but we
exhort you in all sincerity of heart to attend to the matter of
setting your mind on things above. If you spend your days here with
your mind mostly on things on earth, how can you enjoy heaven if you
were to get there? There will be no earthly things there to think
about.
Now do not get restless, but in a calm, composed, quiet manner set
to work thinking about heavenly things. Read your Bible more and
keep your thoughts on it while you read. While you are about your
work think about heaven and the great truths of salvation which God
has given us to guide us to heaven. Think about Christ and what it
will be to meet Him face to face. Do you find it a difficult thing
to do? How strange! You say you love Him with all your heart, but
you find it much easier to think about the things that pertain to
your every day comforts and conveniences than you do to think about
Jesus. We suggest that you begin now and think more about things
above. Take time every day to go into some quiet place and turn your
thoughts heavenward and think soberly and seriously about the
glories and the wonders of that beautiful world. It you will attend
to this, not in a strained way, but calmly and peacefully, you will
soon find it easy to fix your thoughts on God and things above. If
you will, a joy and gladness will come into your heart that will
make it seem that you have gotten saved again. You will soon get to
where on the moment of awakening in the night or in the morning your
thoughts will soar up to heaven. Your first thought will be on
things above, and at the same time your soul will taste a sweetness
that is above any sweetness of earth. A fear would come over my soul
if my mind gave its first awakening thoughts to earthly things. No,
no, no; let my mind dwell a while in heaven before it takes up the
duties of the day. There is a brother who never allows a night to
pass by, unless there be an occasional night when his slumbers are
unbroken, without rising once and twice, and on his knees has an
earnest heart to heart talk with God. On awakening in the morning he
spends from half an hour to an hour in prayer and holy thought
before taking up the duties of the day, and then often through the
day takes a few moments for thinking on heavenly things. It is not
difficult to get into a life like this, and it is heaven on earth.
With all the earnestness of soul we exhort you Christian reader, to
get into it and then go forward to walking closer to God every day
so that some day you will get so close that you will never come back
to earth again.
Holy Thoughts For Quiet Hours
1. You have taken a long step toward holy living when you have
learned to do much and say little. Holiness is seen in what you do
and not in what you say.
2. Many seek God and find Him not because they seek Him for what He
has to give, rather than for what He is Himself. There are those who
would like very much to live like God, but are not willing to pay
the price to become like God.
3. A man may discourse very beautifully about God, and pray in
public with great fervor and enthusiasm, but if he is negligent of
secret prayer his religion is toward men and not toward God.
4. We have obtained the true riches only when we have obtained true
poverty. We have obtained true honor only when we have come to be
despised. We rise to a great height only by being beaten down. We
find true comfort in affliction. When you are called a fool for
Christ's sake then you have found the true knowledge. You have found
true joy and happiness only when you are crucified with Christ.
5. If you want that peace which comes from God, if you want that
fullness of joy that Christ gives, see that that seven-headed
monster of self-love has every head beheaded.
6. If thou wouldst have thy soul to be the temple of God, see that
it is kept clean of all evil, quiet from all fears, void of all
earthly affection, and peaceful amid temptation.
7. A devoted man is one who lives solely to the will of God, who
serves God in every thing, who sees God in every thing, who does all
in the name of Jesus, and eats and drinks and does all things to
God's glory.
8. If a man buys and sells with the sole thought of getting gain and
bettering himself in things of this world without any regard for the
one from whom he buys or sells, he has a vain religion.
9. The Christian takes interest only in those things outside of
Christ which he can use for Christ. If a man engages in any business
he can not serve Christ in or can not use to Christ's glory, he
lives outside of Christ.
10. You are winging your flight over the narrow stream of time. Know
you not that in your flight God holds your hand, then why do you get
so restless and flutter so? Why do such little things trouble you?
Jesus
"Oh, the precious music of Jesus' name!
Glory to the Lamb!
Oh, sweetest name in song, the heavens shall prolong
The music of Thy name."
To the Christian soul there is no music so sweet as the music of the
name of Jesus. That name catches the attention above all other
names. That name is sacred to the Christian's memory. He loves to
think on that name. There is an inexpressible sweetness in the
thought of that name. A tender delight comes over the soul at the
mention of that name. There is no circumstance in life that that
name cannot sweeten. If we be in the furnace flame that name
quenches the burning.
A mother sits beside a little casket in which lies a child, cold,
faded, and dead like a gathered lily. How deep, desperate and blank
would be her woe if it were not for the name of Jesus. As she sits
looking into the face of the child she bore just three months ago,
the tears come streaming from her eyes, but at the thought of Jesus
there is a smile through the tears. What beautiful and bright
visions come before her mind as she beholds her child with Jesus in
the Paradise of God. There is a sorrow at the heart, but there is an
indescribable sweetness in the sorrow as she remembers her blessed
Saviour.
"Tune your harps, ye ransomed throng, and extol the Christ
Sing the name that opened Mercy's door;
Oh, 'tis music, sweetest music to sinners lost,
Sweetest to the saints forever more."
Salvation
As good old Simeon looked into the face of the Child he said, "Mine
eyes have seen Thy Salvation." Who can tell what this meant to him?
Who can tell what rapturous delight filled his soul? There he saw
salvation in its true meaning. From this scene we look away to an
innumerable company in white robes with palms in their hands
standing before the throne and before the Lamb and they are singing.
"Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb." When the sinner takes Jesus to his heart the song of
"Salvation" begins. We hear him singing it all along the journey of
life. He may some times be in the furnace fire, but he never loses
his song. The storm may be raging but above the howling of the winds
you will hear him singing "salvation." He may be misunderstood,
misrepresented, despised, and forsaken by men, but on he goes
singing his lovely song. He never misses a note. The adversities of
life, be what they may, cannot still the song in his soul. Men may
deride him, but the angels are listening. The world may sneer and
scoff, but his song rolls as a sweet anthem up to the ears of the
Great Eternal. One day a company of angels came to bear him away to
his home beyond this world of trial, and we behold him in the midst
of that great throng singing his song of salvation. That is his
theme. It began here when he accepted Jesus and it will never have
an end. It is the song that never grows old. The heart can find its
fullest expression in but one word and that word is salvation. What
does it mean to be saved? It is to be saved from an eternity in the
miseries of hell to an eternity of blessedness in heaven.
"Salvation is the sweetest thing
That mortal ever found;
My soul can never cease to sing,
Such love and peace abound.
"Salvation is the theme so grand-
It thrills with joy my soul:
I'll sing it here, and sing it there
While ceaseless ages roll.
Keep Heaven In View
"The traveler does not think of his journey's end every step of the
way, but he does have it in mind sufficient to not turn aside out of
the way. In all your ways of life keep God in mind. Attend to this
with all diligence. Let God be the end you have in view in all your
actions. Let me give you a few daily rules to walk by:
First, never lie down to your night's sleep without thinking that
you are not doing this for your own comfort, but that a servant of
God may be refreshed and better fitted for the work God has given
him to do. Second, never rise up without the thoughts, 'I arise in
the name of the Lord to do all this day that will please Him most.'
Third, never set about your daily work without the thought that I am
doing this not as my appointed work, but as the work God has
appointed and I do it out of love to Him. Fourth, never sit down at
your table without thinking, 'I will now eat and drink, not to
merely feed my flesh, but to nourish a servant of Christ that he may
have strength for God's service.' Examine yourself in the evening to
see if you have kept these things in mind. Do better tomorrow than
you did today. When you get to doing all things with heaven in view
and doing all things for God s sake, you are then enjoying a walk
through life with God."-Sel.
Closing Suggestions
We must bring this writing to a close. We loathe to say the last
word. Oh God, is there not one word more we can say that may help
some one to a holier life? The writer of these lines is nearing his
three score years and ten, and being frail in body has written this
little booklet as though it may be his last. For two score years the
ambition of his life has been to walk close with God and to help
others to this blessed life. He has made some mistakes, but even
these have been turned to account in helping him to turn with
greater eagerness to ascend higher in the Divine life. He has
attained a fuller love for all men and for things holy. He hates sin
with a perfect hatred. He has attained to a deeper insight into
holiness of life. He sees more clearly how the love of God and true
holiness can be brought into all the details of every day life; how
every thought and word and act can be stamped all over with the
beauty of holiness; how that an act can be done to any creature in
the tenderness of love. Before saying the last word he wishes to
impress upon all the vast importance of being holy in the
performance of the smallest duty of life. It may be needful to
reprove or rebuke some one for stepping aside from the holy way of
Christ, but do it in the tenderness of heaven's love. You must not
assent to that which is evil though it be in your dearest friend.
You must not smile or nod the head at any remark that is light or
jesty, or contains any strife, malice, or ill-will toward another.
Let everything be done in the sobriety, the gravity, the holiness,
the joyfulness and the love of Christ. We shall give you a few
parting counsels.
1. Be prayerful. Take time to bow in the secret place and commune
heart to heart with God at least twice every day. See to it that in
your prayers your soul is lifted up into the presence of God and
that it receives the stamp of His holiness upon it. Guard against
lukewarmness in prayer. Be fervent, touch heaven and be touched by
heaven.
2. Guard against being burdened with the cares of this life. Keep
your life free from fret, worry, and anxiety. Rest calmly,
tranquilly in the helpfulness of an ever present heavenly Father.
Guard against indifference and slothfulness in the spiritual life.
Attend vigorously to all the spiritual duties. Come to your prayers
with reverence and holy awe. Enter the place of public worship with
reverence and a feeling of devotion. Do not engage in a conversation
in the house of God that would interfere with or diminish the
profoundness of that feeling of reverence in your soul. The house of
God is not the place for conversing upon earthly themes. It is a
place appointed for the worship of God, not only during the actual
service, but before and after. The good effect produced upon the
soul by the sermon can be destroyed before you quit the house by a
turning of the mind to earthly things.
3. See to it every day that you are wholly detached from earthly
things. Examine the heart often and closely lest there get to be
some affection for things on the earth. See that your love for
Christ grows warmer and your interest in heaven grows keener. See to
it that you are perfectly contented with your lot in life. Be
pleased with all God is doing for you, and that you are pleasing Him
in all you do. Keep such a realization of God's presence that it
enters into and makes holy and heavenly your thoughts, feelings,
words, and deeds.
4. Allow nothing to disquiet you nor disturb your peace of soul.
Give no place to restlessness or impatience. Keep heaven and
eternity in full view. Live under the consciousness that God has set
His love upon you and that the least fret, restlessness, anxiety, or
impatience grieves Him. Lean upon Him, hard upon Him and be at rest.
Keep the line of communication with heaven constantly intact.
5. Be careful to turn every temptation, trial, and trouble to good
account. Have them work growth in grace in you, for that is what
they have been allowed to come to you for. Trials are the things God
works with to fashion more perfectly His image in you. Never chafe
under a trial. Count them joy. Thank God for them.
6. Do not be half-hearted in your service to God. Be intense, be
earnest, be fervent; keep consecrated to God's will. Live under the
control of the Holy Spirit. Put first things first. Keep a deep and
sublime devotion to God in your soul. Be saintly, be saintly, BE
SAINTLY. Do not be content with being just a little better, but be
your best.
7. Let your mind dwell much on heaven. It will do you good to think
of death if you think of it as you should, if you look upon it as
the open door to the glories of heaven.
Remember that it is sure to come. Learn to look upon it as you do a
messenger you are expecting to come with glad tidings to you. Do not
wait for Death in fear, but wait as you would for a loving friend.
It has lost its sting. Jesus removed the sting and placed a blessing
in its stead. Be busy while you are waiting. Guard against idleness
even in your old days. Keep busy to the last. Let no moments go by
unemployed. Do not give place to that inclination to slow down and
take life easy because you are growing old. Do not entertain the
thought that there is no more now for you to do but to fold your
hands and wait the coming of the angels. Let us pray that in our
dying hour we may magnify Christ. Always be of good cheer. Never let
your heart be troubled. Live holy, live prayerfully, trust God in
all things and for all things.
I am thinking of heaven tonight,
Of the beautiful place it must be,
Of the glories I there shall behold
When the pearly gates open to me.
Heaven, sweet heaven, home of my soul,
How blessed to be there it will be;
I'll walk streets of gold, and never grow old
When the pearly gates open to me.
My mind and heart are in heaven tonight,
From all things of the world I am free:
That mansion I see where I shall e'er be
When the pearly gates open to me.
Farewell, dear reader, a loving farewell;
On thee I pray heaven's blessings to be:
When you come to go, may you have lived so
That heaven's gates will open to thee.
-C. E. Orr
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Section Five
Part Two - Introduction
The Christian is a creation in Christ. The virtue of Christ enters
into and becomes a part of body, soul, and spirit, sanctifying the
whole. His nature is such as binds him to the Infinite. He is given
a vision of the beauty of the Lord from its reflection in his own
being. He has a sense of Divine realities which loose him from the
things of time and woo him to heavenly life. He moves in an infinite
halo of joy and gladness. Every thought, word, and deed of his
new-born life fashions him more into the likeness of God. -C. E. Orr
The Opened Eye
"Open thou mine eyes." Psa. 119:18. Who among us does not need to
pray this prayer? Who among us has an eye to see all that belongs to
the Christian life? Are there not yet some glorious things lying out
beyond the boundary of our vision? Oh, for the open eye to see the
wondrous things God has prepared for them that love Him! Out beyond
our spiritual horizon there may be blessed realities awaiting us if
we would but seek God earnestly for the open eye to discover them.
This world has been called a vale of tears, a wilderness of woe, and
man's way through it a way of trouble and sorrow, yet there is a way
running through it which is a way of pleasantness, and a path which
is a pathway of peace. We need the open eye to find this heavenly
way. If man would but rise to the fullness of life, he would find
many glorious things awaiting him there. Up in the higher realms of
close companionship with God there is fullness of joy. If man would
come into such intimacy with God as to read His mind and know the
loving thoughts He has toward him, his joy would be complete. If man
could but see all that lies in the fatherhood of God, he would never
have a care. The task of this little book is to help you see more of
the good things God has for you.
Looking Upward
"When they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man, save Jesus
only." Matt. 17:8. What you see depends on which way you look.
Looking around on life's circumstances, you will miss seeing the
better things of life. Erect for your soul a spiritual observatory
where you can look into the heavens and see some of its wonder. You
do not need to wait until you get to heaven to behold some of its
glories. Heaven will come down to you with many of its blessed
realities. Soul vision of God is necessary to soul likeness to God.
The beauty of the Lord is inwrought into the soul as it gazes, with
steadfast eye, upon Him. The soul attaches itself to and becomes
like that upon which it gazes. Those who see most of God are fullest
of Him. There are some rare souls who see every thing full of Him.
Every bush is aflame with His presence. They see Him in every event
in life. There are no happenings so small as to disclose none of His
beauty. They see His love in all the provocations and interruptions.
They welcome every annoyance, grievance, and trial because they see
His hand of love in everything. When the soul grasps the fact that
nothing can come to us without His permission, then we have found
heaven on earth.
Heaven Everywhere
"Blessed are the pure in heart. for they shall see God." Matt. 5:8.
It matters not, to those who have the open eye, where they are; they
see heaven anywhere. They do not live in that little world where
they see the old cabin, the open cracks, the bare floors, the empty
flour bin, the meatless larder, the scanty clothing, and the hard
times, but they live out in a world where they see riches untold.
They always have heaped about them a great store of beautiful and
wonderful things. They cannot see their poverty because they are
ever looking at their riches. They do not see the little old cabin
because they are looking at their mansion. They do not see the faded
garments because they are looking at the fine linen, so clean and
white. They do not see the empty flour bin and meatless larder
because their eyes are ever on the promises of God. The apostle John
in Patmos was looking into heaven and not at the barren rocks. Paul
was not confined to the dungeon and the stocks; he was up in the
presence of God singing Him praise. It is what we see with that
inner vision that gives to life its blessed fullness and sweet
contentment. O ye saints, do not live around among the seen things.
Go out and build a mansion for your soul in the heavenly life.
Shut-Ins
Beyond doubt the Lord has a few shut-ins. The line that bounds their
view is only a little way out. They live in a little world of
self-interest, of petty cares, of wearying anxieties, of vexing
circumstances. They see only the seen things. They live in a small
enclosure, and we have grave fears that with some the enclosure is
growing smaller every day. A cataract of worldliness is growing over
their eyes. There is closeness of fellowship with God, intimacy of
communion, blessedness of trust, freedom from care, worry, and fret
that they have never discovered. They never get up into that upper
region where life stretches out in holy contemplation of God and the
glorious realities that the Lord has for Christian souls. Listen at
their talk. It is almost continually about the things of the little
world of which they are acquainted. If they should be induced to say
a word about the spiritual blessings in heavenly places, ii is very
vague, unreal and incomprehensive. They can talk fluently of the
happenings in the neighborhood and of their own affairs, but have no
interest in conversing about the beauty of God, of joys unspeakable,
of the sweetness of meditation, and the glorious freedom of the
soul.
Mary and Martha
"Martha, Martha, thou art troubled about many things" Luke 10 :41,
42. It is the seeing that makes the great difference between one
human life and that of an other. Martha saw the seen things, Mary
the unseen, hence the difference in their lives. Martha loved the
Lord Jesus, but her highest thought was that of ministering to His
body's need. Mary saw that her Lord had meat to eat that Martha knew
not of. Had Martha come and sat with Mary, she would not have seen
what Mary saw. She would have seen the well-spread table in the
dining room, and Mary saw a table spread in the heavenly kingdom.
There are those who assemble for worship in the same building who
see vastly different things. Some rise but a little way above the
things of time and sense. They have so much of the seen things in
their eyes, they cannot see the glorious things of the spiritual
life. It is their privilege to see the loving purpose of God in
every line of human sorrow and have to build for them greater beauty
of soul. They should see the hand of God in all the details of daily
life, and have the little annoyances and cares work a delicacy in
their soul upon which the Holy Spirit can imprint the colors of the
heavenly life, making them more heavenly.
Finding Life
"He that loses his life for my sake shall find it." Matt. 10:39. Not
once for all, but the giving of life daily for Christ's sake is the
daily finding of life. By losing life you find life. This is an
unfailing law in both the lower and higher life. By expending muscle
you find muscle, by expending life you find life. A selfish act is a
self-destroying act. A self-denying act is a self-developing act.
Every act done for Christ's sake identifies you with Christ. You
become a part of that for which you do an act and it becomes a part
of you. To do things for the world's sake is to become a part of the
world. The more love for Christ you put in what you do, the more
closely it unites you with Him. O Jesus, intensify our love for
Thee! You can put a whole heart full of love in a very small deed,
and then the deed has lost its smallness. You can put love for
Christ in doing things for yourself as well as in doing things for
others. In fact, with a true, sincere Christian there is no such
thing as doing for yourself and doing for others. Every act, whether
done for yourself or for others, is an act done for Christ. Those
who love Jesus do not do one single thing in caring for themselves
or others that is not done solely for His sake. This is finding
life.
Living by Christ
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he
that eateth me, even he shall live by me." John 6:57. Are you able
to grasp the meaning of these words ? Read them over again slowly
and prayerfully. We are to live by Christ as Christ lived by the
Father. This is life's standard. It is the standard Jesus set up.
The life Jesus lived was not His, but the life of the Father. The
words He spoke were the Father's words, the deeds He did were the
deeds of the Father. To look upon His life was to look upon the life
of the Father, for it was the Father that lived in Him. He lived by
the Father because He lived upon the Father. In those early morning
and all night prayers He was feeding on God the Father, and all
through the day He lived by Him. That which He gathered from the
Father in those heart-to-heart prayers He carried out and gave it to
the world. In those communings with the Father He enveloped Himself
with an heavenly atmosphere, and within this enclosure He kept
Himself all the day. That holy awe, that sacred reverence, that
spirit of worship, that heavenly unction which He gathered to His
soul in those prayers He kept within Him all the day. He gathered
fresh food every night and morning. Thus we are to live by Christ.
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Section Six
Feeding on Christ
"He that eateth me, even he shall live by me." John 6:57. May God
let the reader and the writer into the secret meaning of these
words. We live by what we feed on. Herein lies the whole secret of
holy living. To live by Christ is to live like Christ. It is to live
by His power, His love, His holiness, His life. To thus live we must
feed on Him. He is to be our daily food. There are a few rare souls
today (would there were many more) who are hungering for more and
more of God, and yet they are coming a little short of the fullest
satisfaction. There are those who have a craving that is not fully
met-a thirst that is not wholly quenched. They come short of living
as Godlike as they should. They try to live nearer Christ, but they
fail. They need to feed more on Christ. He is the Life-Bread of the
soul. They live the most holy who assimilate most of Him. We feed on
Him by bringing our soul into His presence and absorbing Him. In
loving thought of Him, in meditating upon Him, in reading His Word
and praying in the Spirit, we feed on Him. Every out-going of the
heart in love toward Him is supping of Him. By opening its pores and
letting the sunlight in, the flower feeds on sunlight. Open your
soul to Jesus and let Him shine in.
The Soul's Craving
The soul's cravings will not all be fully met and satisfied while
here in the body. It was created for greater freedom, for more
perfect vision, for greater knowledge, and for a closer union with
Christ. The veil of flesh hangs between the redeemed soul and
heavenly realities of which it has a consciousness and for which it
longs. The soul in love with Christ finds great delight in thinking
about the mansion Jesus has gone to prepare and where it shall look
into His face as it cannot here. Redeemed man does not have much to
do with earthly things compared with his activities amid heavenly
things. While in the body he needs to at tend to some things here,
but he lives mostly in eternity. There are no cravings of the soul
for the things of the lower life; its cravings are all for things
above. Be sure that you distinguish between the two. It is possible
to mistake the cravings of the flesh, the intellect, the sentimental
for the craving of the spirit. The mind of man may hunger for an
intellectual knowledge of God while the soul has no hunger for God.
The soul that longs after God finds the hour of communion with God
the sweetest of all the life. It has no thirstings for life's
pleasures.
Holier in Life
You may be pure in heart as the crystal river of life can make you,
and holy of soul as God's throne, yet there is no man living who
cannot become holier in life. You can abound more and more in love;
go from faith to greater faith; grow in knowledge and grace, and
have the beauty of the Lord blooming out more and more in all the
words and deeds of life. Though your heart is cleansed from every
stain of sin, you can have the sweet, heavenly unction of the Holy
Spirit resting more weightily upon your soul. This will affect your
outward life, making it deeper, more hallowed and holy. The tree of
the garden may be perfect and bear perfect fruit, but by rooting
deeper it grows and bears larger and more developed fruit. By
letting the mind take hold upon God in holy thought, we root deeper
into Him and conform more unto His likeness. Every time the mind
fastens upon some truth of God the spirit grows more into the image
of God. Put idle thoughts, vain thoughts, far away from you and stay
your mind on things above. Open the door of your heart heavenward
that the light of God may shine in, imprinting in its depth the
beautiful graces of Christ. Look into the face of Jesus and grow to
be more like Him.
My Heart-Garden
Down in the secret depths of my heart is a wonderful garden. When I
open the gate and walk in, God meets me there. We converse together
of things that can never be talked about outside this secret place.
It is the holy of holiest It may be amid the bustling throng, the
crowded street, the chattering of thoughtless friends, or in some
solitary place; when I open the gate and walk in, I find Christ
waiting for me. He never disappoints me. His voice is sweetest
music, and before the light of His beaming face the shadows flee
away. The world with its frets and worries, its fears and anxieties,
its sorrows and its cares has no place in this wonderful garden.
Here life takes on a fuller meaning. I see the things that are
worthless and the things worth while. Here I can see and hear things
that cannot be seen or heard anywhere outside this secret place.
Here the seen things are lost to view and only the unseen things
appear. Here the near things are far away and the far away things
are near. Here I gather golden grain from the fields of heaven which
I am to carry out and scatter in the pathway of others. When I come
out from this garden, earth is not like it was before. Things seem
changed and I am nearer like my blessed Lord.
Home of My Soul
The home I am building for my soul today will be its home tomorrow
and forever. My soul needs a little more spacious home today than
that which it occupied yesterday. It longs to soar up a little
higher, to go down a little deeper. The home of yesterday is too
narrow for today. It seeks for a clearer vision of heaven, it longs
for greater nearness to God, it would feel a little more sensibly
the impulse of His will, and come nearer the gates of glory and hear
more distinctly the sweet music of heaven. I must not cramp or stint
this soul of mine. It must have the fullest and freest range. My
soul must have perfect liberty to roam about amid the unseen
heavenly things regardless of the sacrifice of the house of clay.
This house of flesh must not hold it in or interrupt its flight
upward. Its wings must be free to fly upward to the presence of God
to hold sweet communion with Him. There are yet many new discoveries
for my soul to make in the spiritual life, and it must not be
hindered by the desires of the flesh. The flesh with its affections
and lusts must be crucified that my soul may have fullest liberty
today. What I build for my soul today will be its home throughout
eternity. I must build a larger home for my soul each day.
Love
"He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4
:16. The fish is in its element when dwelling in the sea. Man's
proper element is love. Man out of love is out of his native
element. Love is the greatest thing in life. The worth of a deed is
estimated, not by the deed itself, but by the amount of love there
is in it. Love associates the object loved with every thing in life.
Labor is the essential property of love. "And labor of love." 1
Thess. 1:3. Love is the must of life. "I must work the works of Him
that sent me." The labor of love is expressed in giving or in
putting forth effort to obtain something to give. Love lives to
give. It must give that it might live. Love is not in the word, but
in the deed. "Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in
deed and in truth." 1 John 3:18. The tongue may talk of love, but
the deed talks loudest. "God so loved the world that He gave." You
love an object when you love it so that you give yourself for it.
Less than this is not love. Love gives itself. We must cut the roses
from the rose-bush on our lawn or it will cease giving us roses. It
must give its roses that it may produce more roses. Love must give
that it may keep on loving.
Love to Christ
"Whom having not seen, ye love." 1 Peter 1:8. "Grace be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." Eph. 6:24.
Sincere love is love wholly free from self-interest. Sincere love to
Christ is not to love Him for what He gives us, but for what He is
in himself. A young lady may love a man because he saved her life,
but she loves her husband because of what he is. Christ is the
lovely and the lovable One. Christ, not the blessing, is to be
loved. He is to be loved with or without blessings. There is great
need of more intense love to Christ in the hearts of His saints.
Few, indeed, that love Jesus as they should. If they loved Christ as
they should, it would make a great change in their life. "Is it I?"
When Christ is loved in sincerity, He is associated with every thing
in life. Every thing brings thoughts of Him. Present a man, who
loves his wife, with a basket of nice, ripe fruit and he will at
once think of her. When you receive your monthly salary, you will
think of Jesus before yourself, if you love Him more than yourself.
You have greater joy in the thing received because of how much of it
you can give to Christ, rather than how much you can have for
yourself. Increase and abound in love.
Hallowing Life
The secret of a hallowed life is the hallowing of God in the heart.
A hallowed life stands out in the world as a witness to things that
belong to the heavenly life. Hold your body as a sacred thing
dedicated to God for His indwelling. He will hallow His temple. Keep
the body sanctified wholly, so that in your eating and drinking or
in whatsoever you do all reflects honor and glory to God. A hallowed
life speaks to men of things spiritual, divine, eternal. Beware, O
beware, lest you profane things hallowed to God! There is a vast
difference between a cultivated dignity and a life hallowed by the
holy presence of God. A man's acquired dignity points men to himself
and they call him magnanimous. A hallowed life points men to God and
they magnify Him. The holy contemplation of God awes the soul and
this holy awe is the spring of a hallowed life. Deep thoughts of God
beget a reverence, a veneration of God that hallows the words and
deeds of a man's life so that he speaks and acts not as other men.
Go, dear child of God, often into that place of quiet communion with
God, that you might take on a hallowedness by which you may hallow
the world.
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Section Seven
Familiarity
Familiarity with an object has a tendency to lessen interest and
delight in the object. It requires but little effort to have
interest in new things, but it does require effort to keep up the
interest as the object grows older. It is possible to lose your love
to God when very busy about the work of God. It is easier to keep up
the works than it is to keep up the love. Saints at Ephesus lost
love to God yet maintained the works. You can become so familiar
with preaching that it becomes more of an occupation than something
done in intense love to Christ. You can keep on working for souls
long after you have lost heart burden for souls. It is not always
those who work the hardest that love God most. One of the most
subtle and dangerous things in the Christian experience is the
deadening effect of familiarity. People can word a beautiful
testimony for years on a past experience. Men practice the art of
talking beautifully about holy things after they have lost the art
of living holy. You can be very familiar with the way of truth, and
yet having lost the way out of your soul. The only possible way to
keep from being deadened by familiarity with spiritual things is to
keep gaining greater spiritual things.
The Holy Anointing
"But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you." 1
John 2:27. This anointing is the freshening of the soul with
spiritual life. It is like the morning dew upon the rose. It awakens
the heart into beauty and strength. It lifts the soul up in holy awe
and reverence to God. It is that which separates you from the things
of the lower life. You go among men, but this holy anointing keeps
you above them. The fruits of the Spirit are growing luxuriously in
your life. Your heart is the garden of the Lord. There He comes to
gather lilies, to scent the sweet fragrance and to eat His pleasant
fruits. It is as real as anything in the lower life. The Holy Spirit
anoints the soul with the life of Christ which quickens it and makes
it life of its life, and gives it such sweet assurance of the
abiding presence of God. It enables man to live amid heavenly
things. He is not confined to the things of this material world. He
lives out among the realities of the spiritual life. He talks with
Christ as with a personal friend. He does all things in the thought
of Him. It is the taking of the sweet heavenly essences and
distilling them upon the heart until it is saturated through and
through with heavenly life.
The Mystery of Godliness
"Great is the mystery of godliness." 1 Timothy 3:16. Christ was made
flesh and dwelt among us. In Him we had God with us. In Him humanity
and divinity were united into a oneness. In Him the human and the
divine were never separated. He performed no act, thought no
thought, spoke no word that necessitated the leaving out of
divinity. God was in every word and deed of His life. Is this too
high a life for man to live? We are to measure to the stature of the
fullness of Christ. All our words are to be spoken, and our deeds
done in Jesus' name. Col. 3:17. This is nothing more or less than
having Christ in every word and deed. We cannot live it, but Christ
will come into our humanity and live it in us. We have no excuse.
Christ will do it for us. Get out of yourself and let Christ in. He
will live in you to the thinking of every thought, the speaking of
every word and the doing of every act. We are commanded to live
godly in this present world, and that is not godly that does not
have God in it. If you are failing to live godly in every word, you
need to feed on Christ more. Get more of His strength in your life.
Draw more heavily at the Divine breasts. Drink deep and full of the
life of Christ.
Dead With Christ
"If ye be dead with Him" 2 Tim. 2:11. Think deeply on these words.
Dead with Him. What does it mean ? There is no thought of death on
the wooden cross, but death to all living to fleshly lusts. To be
dead with Him is to be dead to all He was dead to. It cannot mean
less. He lived after the Spirit and not after the flesh. He lived
humanly but never fleshly. To live after the Spirit is to do all
things in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is to be the energy in
the speaking of every word and doing of every deed. We are not to
speak and act of ourselves, but in the Spirit. Adam acted to the
flesh which separated him from divine life. We can live in the
flesh, do things in the flesh, and not do them for the sake of the
flesh. We can do every thing for Jesus' sake. When we do things for
the sake of the flesh, we are living to the flesh and this is not
holy living. Do not be too hasty to conclude that you are not a
Christian because you do some things almost daily that is done to
the flesh. You may speak too idly, or too sharply, eat too much,
indulge in the flesh in too great an ease, and yet do it carelessly
and thoughtlessly and not altogether forfeit Divine life. Read the
next paragraph.
Living With Christ
"If we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him." 2 Tim. 2:11.
Not only when we get to heaven, but here on earth. If we do not live
with Him here, we shall not live with Him in heaven. You cannot
speak idly, impatiently, eat intemperately, willfully and
premeditatively and be a Christian. And to do those things
thoughtlessly and carelessly is to become a very weak Christian, and
will finally end in the utter loss of spiritual life. Many, many
saints are living too carelessly, thoughtlessly. They may pray the
Lord to help that every word they speak may be seasoned with grace,
but oh, how careless they are about their words when they come from
prayer. They seem to give such little heed to help God answer their
prayers. They will chatter along for an hour about earthly things
without once thinking of God or whet |
