Praise the Lord for this first Wednesday of
June. I drove around some of the countryside yesterday, feasting on the beauty
of our Lord displayed with majesty and mercy. Some of the wild spring flowers
are in full bloom. You can feel the sweetness of its fragrance all around. The
other day Alice and I walked in one of the beautiful parks of the area that is
the by the river banks. We saw many Canadian goslings, 2013 Spring Edition.
They were care free and jubilant ,living not in loneliness but in "community".
What a lesson this is about living as the "Body of Christ". The Lord has turned
His Humungous Air Conditioning Apparatus over the entire region. It is so
beautiful and invigorating and, best of all, it is all free. In fact, all best
gifts in life are free. Thank you Jesus. We will meet for our mid week
gathering for study and fellowship this evening at 6 PM with a very special
meal. We will looking at 1 Peter Chapter 2.
I have
been blessed and nurtured by many British Missionaries, Theologians, poets, and
literary figures. One of those is Gilbert K. Chesterton, the British poet,
essayist, novelist, and journalist. G. K. Chesterton was once dubbed "The
Prince of Paradox." Chesterton was a professed Christian and he once made the
spiritual observation that in the house of life many people are content to live
in the cellar. In fact, they seem to assume that the cellar is the only room in
the house.
I think
we know exactly what he was saying. There are many who live out their lives in
the dusty, musty chambers of the basement of life. They live where there is
little vision of what life is really all about, but when someone becomes a
Christian, they are moved upstairs to enjoy the quarters of the Heavenly
Father.
Out of
the life of the great Scottish preacher, George H. Morrison, there comes a story
of a woman who lived in the cellar when she first went to hear him preach. He
was one of the great preachers of all time, and a great expositor of the Word.
As she listened, she became converted. Sometime later, someone noted that she
had moved to an upstairs flat. In her well kept yard she not cultivated
flowers. A song regularly came from her little flat. When someone asked her
about her move out of the cellar, she replied in her rich Scottish brogue,
"Well, you can't live in a cellar and listen to George Morrison
preach!"
This is exactly what the Apostle Paul was
talking about in Colossians 3. He had turned from proclaiming the teachings to
the practical application in the Christian life. It is not enough to believe in
Christ; our lives must demonstrate His life. This is in contrast to the pagan
religions of Paul's day and our own which said little to nothing about the
personal transformation of the believer. A person who worshiped a pagan idol
could drop down and pray, then give his offering and go right back out into
sin. What a person believed had no direct bearing on how he
behaved. We must live "upstairs" because Jesus' resurrection
makes it possible.
Since
we have received His Holy Spirit when we became a Christian, we are empowered to
live the new life in Christ. Paul used the term "Hidden with Christ in
God."
"And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that You would bless me indeed,and enlarge my territory,that Your hand would be with me,and that You would keep me from evil, That I may not cause pain.'
That's
living upstairs.
In
Christ,
Brown
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