The Fight of Faith
It is like the incident at Bethesda's pool, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk." The power came with the word. "When the fight of faith begins, our strength is as our day.”
In 1 John 2:7, we have an old commandment—that is Christ—and in verse 8, a new one, because it is in Him and in you as well. The same thing is to be seen in you, only it is hindered by the flesh. In Christ we see a life that delighted to walk with God, and all that pleased God; the life that was in Him is the very same life that is in you. What is to be seen in you, in character, is the same as seen in Him, and you are in a scene where everything is foreign to that life.
We do not need to walk in the old ways, for we have this power within us. By and by this life will have its home in glory; we could not show the right kind of fruit if we did not have this new life. We have love divine. Love is the activity of the divine nature in the believer; if we did not have this nature we could not bring forth the right kind of fruit.
The old trunk being still there, the tree has to be carefully watched. The careful gardener must be there to keep away every little sprig from growing out of the old trunk.
We are made to feel what it is to be pilgrims, so that we cannot be satisfied down here. There is the Father's house made ready for us and we will not be satisfied until there, and He will not be satisfied until we are there; He has not only called us to this new place and portion, out of a ruined scene but has made us to feel that our surroundings are not home. He points us on to a new scene where we will know the Father and the Son, by the Spirit, where nothing can come in to hinder or mar our fellowship, "He that believeth on the Son," etc. You did not know that all these things belong to that, did you? But they do, and this is what makes us different from what we were before.
“Herein is our love made perfect... because as He is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:17. Look up and see the Lord Jesus, the delight of the Father's heart. If you can tell me how much He loves the Son, I will tell you how much the Father loves you.
Notes—Montreal 1913