having Christ in us. The scriptures
make a great deal of Christians having Christ in them. Christ
himself speaks of abiding in his people and of his life as
flowing through them as the life of the vine flows through its
branches. The figure of the body is used,
believers being members of Christ's body and deriving all their life
from him. The idea of a building or temple
with the Divine Spirit as indwelling guest is also employed to represent
the Christian's relation to his Lord. Then the Apostle Paul says
without figure, Christ lives in me, and speaks of being filled
with the Spirit, filled with all the fullness of God as a
possible and most desirable attainment of Christian experience. From
the many forms in which this truth is represented in the scriptures,
it is evident that the ideal Christian life is one that is
thoroughly pervaded, saturated, so to speak, with the life and
spirit of Christ. Far more certainly is implied
than mere divine influence over us, or upon us from without,
such influence as a friend exerts over a friend, a teacher over
a pupil, or even a mother over a child. To become a Christian
is to have a new spiritual life enter the soul, as when a seed
with its living germ is planted in the dead soil. To grow as
a Christian is to have this new life increase in strength and
energy, making daily conquests over the old nature, extending
itself and expelling the evil by the force of its own good.
and ultimately bringing the affections, feelings, desires, and all the
activities, even the thoughts of the heart, into subjection
to Christ. There is a great difference between
having Christ outside and having Him in us. If he's only outside,
we may listen for his words and try to obey his voice, following
where he leads, and we may gaze upon his loveliness and seek
to copy it in our lives. But our following and obeying
will be under the impulse of duty only, with no inward constraint,
and our striving after the divine likeness will be like the carving
of a figure in cold marble rather than the growing up of a life
from within by its own vital force and energy into the fullness
of power and beauty. Only as we get Christ into our
hearts and let Him dwell in us by His Spirit shall we reach
the true ideal of Christian life and experience. Then shall we
do right, not by direction of written rule, but by the promptings
of our regenerated nature, the indwelling Christ. Then shall
our dull lives be transfigured by the light that shines in our
hearts, and slowly changes all the earthliness to heavenliness. Then shall the features of the
divine image come out little by little, as the new life within
forces itself through the dull crust of the old nature. Until
at length the full beauty of Christ shines, where once only
sin's marred visage was seen. Christ within makes an inner
joy. which all the darkness of earth's
trials cannot quench. There are great diversities of
experience in sorrow. Some, when this world's lights
are quenched, are left in utter gloom, like a house without lamp
or candle or flickering firelight when the sun goes down. Others,
in similar darkness, stand radiant in the deep shadows. They have
bright light within themselves. Christ dwells in them and the
beams from his blessed life turn night into day. There is an ancient
picture of the Christ child in the stable which illustrates
this experience. The child lies upon the straw,
the mother is bending over him, the wandering shepherds are near
and in the background are the cattle. It is night There's only
one feeble lantern in the place, but from the infant child a radiance
streams which lights up all the crude scene. So it is in sorrow-darkened
hearts when Christ truly dwells within. The light streaming from
Him who is the light of the world, in whom is no darkness, illumines
all the gloom of grief. Indeed, when Christ dwells in
the heart, sorrow is a blessing, because it reveals beauties and
joys which could not have been seen in the earthly light. It is one of the blessings of
night that without it we could never see the stars. It is one
of the blessings of trial that without it we could never see
the precious comforts of God. When Christ is within us, sorrow
is a time of revelation. It is like the cloud that crowned
the summit of the holy mountain into which Moses climbed, and
by which he was hidden so long from the eyes of the people.
While folded in the clouds, he was looking upon God's face.
Sorrow's cloud hides the world and wraps the wandering one in
thick darkness. But in the darkness, Christ himself
unveils the splendor and glory of his face. There are many who
never saw the beauty of Christ and never knew Him in the intimacy
of a personal friendship until they saw Him and learned to talk
with Him as a friend with a friend in the hour of sorrow's darkness. When the lamps of earth went
out, Christ's face appeared. But Christ is not a friend for
sorrow alone. We do not have to wait until
trial comes to enjoy His love and be blessed by His indwelling. His light shines in many places
where the brightness of other lamps still beams. Yet even there
it does not shine in vain. Christ within has a deep meaning
to the joyous as well as to the sad. All blessings are richer,
all gladness is sweeter, all love is purer because we have
Christ. His peace in the heart makes
every earthly beauty lovelier. Indeed, all human gladness is
but a vanishing picture, a passing illusion, unless the joy of the
Lord is its spring and source. What confidence it gives us in
our enjoyment of the transient and uncertain things of earth
to know that these are not our only possessions. that if we
lose them, we shall still be rich and secure, because we shall
still have Christ. All day the stars are in the
sky. We cannot see them in the glare
of the sunshine, but it's something surely to know that they are
there, and that when it grows dark, they will shine out. So amid abounding human joy,
It is a precious confidence to know that there are divine comforts
veiled, invisible to our eyes in the sunshine about us, which
will flash out the moment the earthly joy is darkened. To the
happiest heart that really makes room for Christ within, There
is always the assurance of a world of spiritual blessings, hopes,
and joys lying concealed in the luster of human gladness, like
stars in the noonday sky, but ready to pour their brightness
upon us the moment the night falls with its shadows. Whether
therefore the earthly light is bright or dark, Christ in the
heart gives great blessedness and peace. Christ in you, the
hope of glory, Colossians 1.27. Christ lives in me, Galatians
2.20. Christ within us will be made
manifest. If we have this divine indwelling,
we will also have an ever increasing measure in all our life of the
gentle and loving spirit of the Master. We should not claim to
have Christ in us if, in our conduct and speech, in our disposition
and temper, and in our relations with our fellow men, there is
none of the mind and temper of Christ. If Christ truly is in
us, He cannot long be hidden in our hearts without manifestation. There will be a gradual transformation
of our outer life into Christ's likeness. As he lived, we will
live. As he ministered to others, we
will minister. As he was holy, we will be holy. As he was patient, thoughtful,
unselfish, gentle, and kind, so will we be. Christ came to
our world. to pour divine kindness on weary,
needy, perishing human lives. Christ, truly in our hearts,
would send us out on the same mission. And there is need everywhere
for love's ministry. The world today needs nothing
more than true Christlikeness in those who bear Christ's name
and represent Him. Christ went about doing good.
He sought to put hope and cheer into all He met. If Christ is
in us, we should strive to perpetuate this Christ ministry of love
in this world. Hearts are breaking with sorrow.
Men are bowing under burdens too heavy for them. Duty is too
large. The battles are too hard. It
is our mission, if Christ is in us, to do for these weary,
overwrought, defeated, and despairing ones what Christ himself would
do if he was standing where we stand. He wants us to represent
him, and he fills us with his spirit. that we may be able to
scatter the blessings of helpfulness and gladness all about us. Yet one of the saddest things
about life is that, with so much power to help others by kindliness
of word and kindliness of act, many of us pass through the world
in silence or with folded hands. Silence is oft-times a better
ministry than speech. It were very well frequently
if we did not speak, where now we speak with quick and glib
tongue. There are words that pain and wound the heart. There
is speech that is most cruel. There are tongues that had better
been born dumb than to have the gift of speech and employ it
as they do. Speech is silvern, of or like
silver. Silence is golden, says the old
proverb. And there are homes and lives
in which it were well if fewer words were uttered. But there
are also silences that are cruel. We walk beside our friends whose
hearts are heavy, who are bearing burdens that well near crush
them, who are yearning for cheer and sympathy and love. We talk
incessantly with them of other things, of business, of society,
of books, of a thousand things. but never speak the sweet word
for which they are hungering. If the mind of Christ is in us,
it should prompt us to speak such words as Christ himself
would speak if he were in our place. Surely we should learn
the lesson of gentle, thoughtful kindness to those we love and
to all we meet in life's busy ways. And we should show the
kindness too while their tired feet walk in life's toilsome
paths and not wait to bring flowers for their coffins or to speak
words of cheer when their ears are closed and their hearts are
stilled and it's too late to give them comfort and joy. If
we truly have Christ in our hearts, it will work out in transformed
life and in Christly ministry. it will lead to the brightening
of one little spot at least on this big earth. There are a few
people whom God calls to do great things for Him, but the best
things most of us can do in this world is just to live out a real,
simple, consecrated, Christian life in our allotted place. Thus, in our little measure,
We shall repeat the life of Christ Himself, showing men some feeble
reflection of His sweet and loving face, and doing in our poor way
a few of the beautiful things He would do. if he were here
himself. Whittier tells us, the dear Lord's
best interpreters are humble human souls. The gospel of a
life is more than books or scrolls.