“But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you.” 1 John 2:27
Dear Ones:
God has provided for us such a great salvation in Christ, that TODAY, we are “free” to run this race set before us, “supplied” with every resource to do so “every morning” of every day. As an example of this, we would listen to one of Charles Wesley’s hymns, as he writes: “Let nothing NOW my heart divide, since with Thee I am crucified.” Why does he write this in this way, and what does he mean? What is his intent and method to realize his objective? Wesley takes the declared truth of Scripture, the WORD OF GOD, and applies it precisely to the soul. At the very moment that a soul is “saved,” being brought to faith in Christ by a complete surrender of himself to God, a massively, monumental change has been accomplished in him, for him. He has immediately gone from being “in Adam,” a place of condemnation and slavery to sin, to being “in Christ,” that place of peace, and of Life and freedom. He has been “baptized” into the very death of Christ. What does this mean? From God’s perspective, the believer has undergone what Christ has undergone, by virtue of his union with Christ. He has been crucified with Christ…crucified to sin, self, the world, and Satan. “Baptism” speaks of the total work of Christ applied to the totality of the soul. This truth is the “point and position of freedom,” freedom from the tyranny of ungodly rebellion against God, making possible an entire submission to His authority. On the other side of the cross, which has declared our death in Christ, is the proclamation of a life to be lived IN THE SPIRIT, led by the Spirit, where the witness of the Spirit is a common experience, “Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.” But how is this to be lived?
In Luke’s gospel, the Lord Jesus told His disciples: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) Why does He use the word “daily” here? He is referring to an attitude of mind and heart that needs to be renewed every day. Truth is a reality night and day. Faith’s appropriation of Christ according to the truth is a daily endeavor and pursuit. Even as we are called upon to pray for “daily” bread, so we are called upon to trust God for grace to pick up our “cross” daily. What does this mean? Again, there has been an all-inclusive work on Calvary by which the believer was, and is, crucified in Christ. The cross is that means to freedom…God’s declared truth of freedom from sin, self, and Satan. Without the appropriation, and grasp of this truth by faith, how can one be free to live for God, and to run this race of faith? So then, the cross sets us free to “follow” Christ, but where does the grace and capacity come from to actually follow Him? Just as the truth of our crucifixion with Christ applies to our having died in/with Him, so the truth of our union with Him BY THE SPIRIT applies to the enabling to live for Him, following Him, being led BY Him. This is why the Apostle John declares that we HAVE received an anointing, the anointing of the Spirit. Just as our death in Christ was all-encompassing, so our being raised up with Him, anointed by Him, is all encompassing. We are IN the Spirit, as we are IN Christ. The question then becomes, “Do I live in this reality on a ‘daily’ basis?” Do we take up our cross daily, and also appropriate the daily anointing, quickening and enabling, of the Spirit, in order to follow Christ?
Paul wrote in Romans 8:2, “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me FREE from the law of sin and death.” This is the key, grasping that just as real as sin is a law, principle, which will kill and destroy, so the LAW of the Spirit, the certainty and sufficiency of Christ by the Spirit, possesses overwhelming, victorious power, leading and resulting in Life. To follow Christ is to live free from sin, running freely to love and serve God by the Spirit.
Dear Father, give us grace to see and understand that every day we are called upon to take a position of faith according to the great truths of Thy word. Strengthen our hearts today to deny, or forget, ourselves, taking up our cross, in order to follow Christ. Enable us to live in the liberty of living by the Spirit, doing the will of God, and serving Thee effectively while on this earth. We praise and thank Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad