We must look above our path to be able to walk in it. A Jew, who had the secret of Jehovah and who waited for the Messiah, was pious and faithful according to the law. A Jew, who had only the law, assuredly did not keep it. A Christian, who has heaven before him and a Saviour in glory as the object of his affections, will walk well upon the earth; he who has only the earthly path for his rule will fail in the intelligence and motives needed to walk in it; he will become a prey to worldliness, and his christian walk in the world will be more or less on a level with the world in which he walks. The eyes upward on Jesus will keep the heart and the steps in a path conformable to Jesus, and which consequently will glorify Him and make Him known in the world. Seeing what we are, we must have a motive above our path to be able to walk in it.J. N. Darby, Synposis of the Books of the Bible, Volume 1. Comments on 1 Kings 3.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Above the path
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Yes, indeed!
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Col. 1: 1-3)
Oops! The reference above is actually Colossians 3: 1-3.
"The more we study the word, the more we see how it takes us out of the present world, and how it associates us with all things that are of God. When we come to what is Christian, it is not what the law was (that is righteous claim), but the revelation of God's grace and God's mind to give what takes our hearts from this world, and associates us with a revealed scene that is not this world at all, but outside it all. This is Christianity in its practical character; it is an association completely of our hearts with things not seen. When we walk right, we walk by faith.
"Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Servants are not to purloin. Why? "That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." Paul was so full of Christ Himself that he could not speak without bringing Christ in. He cannot say, "Husbands, love your wives" without saying what Christ was Himself, "even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." It is no mere morality, nor a question of results.
The Christian is a person whose mind has got hold of the revelation of God by the power of the Holy Ghost. "He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is above all." The Lord says, "No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." He comes and brings from heaven the full revelation of what He knew. This is the reason that no one received His testimony. He brings in these heavenly things: all His words were the expression of what He was, at the same time perfectly adapted to man down here, while all the fulness of the Godhead was in Him. We find in Christ that which is entirely divine and perfectly human. It is the bringing down of these heavenly things perfectly adapted to what man was on the earth; and now He sets us to walk through the world according to that which has been revealed to us." (JND, The Saving Grace of God: http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/EVANGEL/21053E.html)
A good addition to this: http://stempublishing.com/magazines/bt/BT04/1863_330_Heavenly_Dwelling.html
A good addition to this: http://stempublishing.com/magazines/bt/BT04/1863_330_Heavenly_Dwelling.html
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