June 17
“For the death that He died He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so, consider [or reckon] yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:10-11)
Continuing to quote from The Green Letters:
PREPARATION (continued)
The value of both the struggle to free ourselves from the old Adam-life, and the equally fruitless efforts to experience the new Adam-life, the Christ-life, is to finally realize that it is utterly futile. Our personal, heart-breaking failure in every phase of our Christian life is our Father’s preparation for His success on our behalf. (p. 20)
Charles Thrumbull said, “The effortless life is not the will-less life. We use our will to believe, to receive, but not to exert effort in trying to accomplish what only God can do. Our hope for victory over sin is not ‘Christ plus my efforts,’ but ‘Christ plus my receiving.’ To receive victory from Him is to believe His word that solely by His grace He is, this moment, freeing us from the dominion of sin. And to believe on Him in this way is to recognize that He is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.” We learned this principle at the time of our spiritual birth, and it seems that most of us have to learn it all over again for our spiritual growth and service. Fear not, dear friend; just hold firm to the fact of His purpose for you in Christ, and He will faithfully take you step by step into all the necessary preparation-He will do it. (p. 21)
COMPLETE IN HIM
Since we are complete in our Lord Jesus [Col. 10a], it will not do to try to add to that finished work. It is now a matter of walking by faith and receiving, appropriating, from the ever abundant Source within….Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ. This entails Bible-based fact finding; explicit faith in Him and His purpose for us in Christ; and patient trust while He takes us through the necessary processing involved….Spiritual growth necessitates heart-hunger for the Lord Jesus; determination, based on assurance, to have that which is ours in Him, plus meditation and thought. We will never come into a knowledge of our spiritual possessions through a superficial understanding of the Word. How can we ever expect to have intimate fellowship with One of whom we know so little? (p. 24)
More tomorrow.