Meditations on Christian Devotedness

While many in the present day are teaching and writing much on the important subjects of consecration, devotedness, and holiness of heart and life; and while many are more or less affected by the general interest which these inquiries are creating; it may be well for thee, my soul, to retire for a little into the sanctuary of thy Lord’s presence, and there learn what has been long written on those and kindred subjects. Be assured there is nothing new under the sun. These various aspects of christian character, with the motives and objects by which they are created and sustained, are fully revealed in the word of God. The time ground also on which they rest, thou wilt find there. Oneness with Christ as the last Adam, the exalted Man in the glory, must be thy stand-point, otherwise thou wilt “see men as trees walking”—thou wilt be confounding that which has its roots in nature with that which is of the grace of God in truth.
Know then, and assuredly believe, O my soul, that thou art one with Him who bore thy sins on the cross, who rules on the throne, and who is coming again to take thee up to be with Himself in His home of love and glory. Wrong ground—a mistaken point of view—leads to great confusion and self-contradiction, to the mixing up of law and gospel, faith and experience, self and Christ. No matter how good our eye-sight may be, we cannot see without light. Thou must be in the sunlight of thy Lord’s presence to see the true foundation and the divine course of all things. And there, O wondrous truth! O privilege infinite! O blessedness unspeakable, thou art at home—at home, as thou art nowhere else—in the concentrated light of heaven’s noon-day brightness. He is thy righteousness, absolute and complete, in the presence of God; He is thy eternal life, thy peace, thy joy, thy rest, thy glory. Thus arrayed in the moral glories of thy Lord, and basking in the beams of His complaisant love, what hast thou to fear? And know also, O my soul, that all this is true now—true to faith, though not to experience, and always true in the sight of God.
In proof of this, take the two highest notes in the New Testament as to the Christian’s position; one is sounded by the apostle Paul and the other by the apostle John.
1. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Hero pause for a moment and meditate, not only on thy place in Christ, but on the “rich mercy” and the “great love” of God, which set thee there. What can be sweeter to thy thoughts than this precious truth? And there it is, believe it fully.
2. “Herein is our love [or love with us] made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” This is a plain statement and must be received in the simplicity of faith. It surely means, that as He—Christ—is, in God’s sight, so are we, though still in this world and encompassed with many infirmities. And this should teach thee never to look to self or experience if thou wouldst know thy place and acceptance in the presence of God; but always to Christ as the measure and expression of thy portion there. There is only one other passage that I will bring before thee at present, and this we will call, the dowry of the bride. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Here thou wilt see, that by the will and wondrous grace of God, Christ Jesus is made unto the Christian—every Christian—wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Surely this is a rich inheritance for the individual Christian, the church of God, the bride of the Lamb! And forget not, I pray thee, that these blessings are thine now in Christ Jesus, head of the new creation, and of the church, which is His body and His bride. Eph. 2:4-6 John 4:17 Cor. 1:30.
We will now turn to our beautiful chapter, where we shall meet with similar truths, though not in the character of a distinct subject, but as the native result of our union with Christ, and of looking to Him as our one and only object in our journey through this world.
Verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. The first lesson here to be learned is a very important one—the apostle’s style of address. How graciously and tenderly he entreats the saints at Rome as brethren! Great apostle as he was, he places them all on the same level with himself. This, of course, is true of all Christians as regards their pardon and acceptance in Christ, however varied their condition may be as to the manifestation of the divine nature. “One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” (Matt. 23:8.) But how endearing is the apostle’s manner, compared with the high, imperious style of many who profess to be his successors, or at least to be ministers of Christ! “I beseech you therefore, brethren;” this is true humility though accompanied with divine authority. Only nearness to the Lord can give both. But what an example for all Christians, for thee, my soul, when having to do with the poorest of the flock! We will now notice the foundation on which the exhortation rests.
“The mercies of God.” True Christian devotedness evidently flows from the devout consideration of the mercies or compassions of God to the poor outcast sinner. The apostle appeals to the hearts of the brethren as being happily acquainted with the riches of divine mercy to lost and ruined souls. The effect of meditating on this aspect of God’s character is transformation to His image, and devotedness to His glory, as our holy, acceptable, and reasonable service. Most blessed, precious privilege! And this holy imitation of the divine character, be it observed, is not the result of our own efforts, but flows naturally from the blessed truth that we are made partakers of the divine nature, as taught more fully by the apostle elsewhere. “Be ye therefore followers of God,” or, literally, imitators of God, “as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also bath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” Here pause for a moment and meditate deeply; the subject is vast and most practical. Talking of devotedness, of holiness, of consecration, what is thy standard? Is it thine own possible attainments by unwearied watchings, fastings, diligence, or what? Self in a thousand ways may be thy governing object, but wrong in all. Could God present a lesser or lower object to His children than Himself, as morally displayed in the person and work of His beloved Son? Impossible! “It would dishonor Himself and the grace He has shown as; and it would be the most grievous loss to His children beloved, whom He would train and bless yet more and more even in this scene of evil and sorrow, turning the most adverse circumstances into an occasion of teaching us what He is in the depths of His grace, and filling ourselves with the sense of it, so as to form our hearts and fashion our ways.... Neither law nor even promise ever opened such a field as this. The very call so to imitate God supposes the perfect grace in which we stand: indeed it would be insupportable otherwise.”
But one word of inspired authority settles the whole question to faith for over: “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children.” This is thy standard and the measure of thy devotedness. Being the children of God we are partakers of His nature, and ought never to admit a standard lower than the nature of which we are partakers. God was manifested in Christ Jesus, the express image of His Person. It is in Him that we see our new nature presented in all its perfection, and in all its fullness, but in Him as man, and as it ought to be developed in us here below, in the circumstances through which we are passing. It is indeed humbling to think that we have answered so little to the call of God to be imitators of Himself as His children. But He has given us an object in which He manifests Himself that He may lead and attract our hearts to follow Him: and this object we know as the one who loves us and gave Himself for us, and the only object the Christian should ever have. “There is a sense,” says one, “in which God is, morally, the measure of other beings—a consideration which brings out the immense privilege of the child of God. It is the effect of grace, in that being born of Him, and partaking of His nature, the child of God is called to be an imitator of God, to be perfect as his Father is perfect. He makes us partakers of His holiness; consequently we are called to be imitators of God, as His dear children. This shows the immense privilege on grace. It is the love of God in the midst of evil, and which, superior to all evil, walks in holiness, and rejoices, also, together in a divine way, in the unity of the same joys, and the same sentiments.”
We now return for a moment to the subject of mercy after this rather long digression, but the one passage throws much light on the other and gives greater breadth of truth to the mind.
The word “mercies” is here used in the plural, because it signifies, not mercy as an attribute of God simply, but the compassions of God which have been fully developed in the different instances already enumerated. At the same time, it may have a special reference to verse 31 of the previous chapter, where we find Jews as well as Gentiles concluded in unbelief that God may have mercy upon all. “Even so these [the Jews] have now been unbelieving with regard to your mercy [the Gentiles] in order that they should receive mercy.” Thus the Jews having forfeited all right to the promises through unbelief, must be brought in at the end on the ground of mercy. And this God will do when he has brought in the fullness of the Gentiles. But it is the privilege of the Christian to meditate on the mercies of God as displayed in redemption, as well as in His dispensational ways. It was pure mercy that thought of him in the counsels of eternity, that gave him a place in the purposes of God, that wrote his name in the Lamb’s book of life, that watched over him in the days of his unbelief, that called him by Iris gospel, that gave him deliverance from sin and condemnation; that gave him the Holy Spirit, union with Christ, and the hope of His coming; and thereby communion with God the Father, and the enjoyment of all the unspeakable blessings of His grace and love.
“When all Thy mercies,
O my God, My ransomed soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise.”
This is a great subject. Hurry not over it in thy meditations, O my soul. It is highly practical and may go far to form and consolidate thy thoughts of practical Christianity. Strange to say, the interests of religion are supposed by some Christians to be better secured when the soul is under law and occupied with its feelings and doings, than when it is under grace and feeding on the truth of the divine compassions towards it from first to last. But heed not this false alarm, it is the old cry of this world’s wisdom, “The grace of the gospel leads to licentiousness;” but what is it that the fleshly mind will no pervert? Even “the mercies of God” are used as a refuge for living in sin. “God is merciful,” we hear people say, “and if we do our best, and live a God, moral, sober life, and show kindness to our neighbor, He will not condemn us with the openly wicked.” After this style many speak, but it is always the language of those who are careless about their souls, and who have no heart for Jesus.
True, most true, God is indeed merciful and gracious, but the boundless mercies of God are no refuge to the soul apart from the work of Christ. God has shown His mercy to the guilty in giving the precious blood of His own Son as a safe refuge for the chief of sinners. But if this shelter be neglected the whole universe cannot provide another. The testimony of God Himself is, that “The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” The blood is the sure token of judgment passed, of holiness, righteousness, and justice satisfied; of the forgiveness, cleansing, and complete salvation of the sinner. But we must now turn to the latter half of our verse.
Meditations on Christian Devotedness
“That ye present your bodies a sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is yogi. reasonable service.” The apostle leaves no room here for the liberty of the flesh, or for going back to the law as a rule of life. The believer is to be formed morally by the knowledge of God, and consecrated to Him as his reasonable service. It is of the body, or outer man, that the apostle expressly speaks. “That ye present your bodies. The body is here viewed as the sacrifice, and the believer as presenting it; so that the whole man is to be yielded up as an offering to the Lord.
But if thou wouldst well understand this character of devotedness, thou must study and master chapter 6. There we learn that Christians are, first of all, to reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. They are brought into this position by death and resurrection, as set forth in baptism, in virtue of the finished work of Christ. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Baptism is the symbol of Christians having part with Christ in death. He died for sin, they died to sin in His death. This is the grand fundamental truth of entire devotedness and practical holiness. “How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Such is the reasoning of the Spirit of God. All true Christians believe that Christ died for our sins, but comparatively few believe or enter into the truth that we died to sin in His death.
But the consequences of not apprehending this plain truth, which the youngest confessor of Christ is supposed by the apostle to know, are immense and innumerable. From the first struggles with self in the newly awakened soul, to the highest efforts of the priests and the mystics, the root is the same; it is occupation with self in all. Whether it be the young believer longing after peace with God, or the advanced believer straining after holiness and perfection, they are looking for it within. The eye is turned inwardly in search after feelings, or a consciousness of having arrived at a higher state of christian life. But this is not all. When death to sin is not seen, there can be no real separation from the world, especially what is called the religious world. Hence we may often be surprised to see godly men mixing with the world and helping on its plans and improvements. But the whole system of self-occupation, of seeking to improve the first Adam condition of man, of seeking to attain to complete sanctification in the flesh, is judged by the simple truth, that the Christian died to sin in Christ’s death, and that in his baptism he owns this, and is bound to walk as one already and always dead to sin. In a tone of disappointment the apostle appeals to his brethren at Rome, and asks the question, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death?” As much as to say, Have you forgotten the meaning of your baptism, are you ignorant of so elementary a truth?
In the latter part of the chapter we have this great principle applied in detail, which shows that the body and every member of the body is to be employed in the service of God. It is not enough to say of any one, He is very true at heart, but fails in his personal attendance at the various meetings of his brethren, and otherwise in using his tongue, his hands, or his feet, in the Lord’s service, and thinks he may be excused because of circumstances. ‘Many too are ready to say, who have found a reason for remaining at home, I was with you in spirit, I was helping by prayer.’ While this may be true and good in some cases, in others, we fear, it might be self-delusion. The service of the body is as fairly required of the Lord as the prayer of the heart. It is well to know the Lord’s claims on the body—on our personal service and presence. “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments unto God.” The idea of a sacrifice is surely that of entire consecration—of body, soul, and spirit. The devoted victim under the law was slain and laid on God’s altar. The act was complete—a complete surrender. Christians are to present their own “bodies” as a “living sacrifice,” in contrast with the sacrifices of the law which were put to death. It is a self-sacrifice; but “with such sacrifices God is well pleased;” and the only sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to Him now. All others are profane. The sacrifice of the mass, so-called, and the whole system of Ritualism, are a practical denial of the finished work of Christ, and most offensive in the sight of God. “It is finished,” was the shout of victory, all was accomplished. “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Heb. 10:14.
Since the one sacrifice of Christ was offered, sacrificial and ceremonial worship, with the long ritual of the Jews’ religion, have passed away. These were types and shadows which came to their end by the coming of the Messiah. “The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.” God looks for intelligence in His servants according to the true light. The sacrifices of old had no conscience, no intelligence, no self-judgment, but the “living sacrifice” of Christians is called—“your reasonable service.”
But some may still be ready to inquire, “In what sense can it be said that we died to sin in Christ’s death, for I feel that sin is as really in me now as it was before my conversion?” Most surely it is there, and seeks to rule as formerly; this is just what the apostle refers to and warns against. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” So long as we are in the “mortal body,” sin will be there and will seek to reign, but we are to reject its claims and refuse obedience to its desires. Our new place of blessing in Him who died and rose again, takes us far beyond its dominion. “For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” Now mark what follows; all believe this verse to be quite true of the blessed Lord. None believe that He died to the love or the practice of sin, but to sin itself. But what does verse 11 say? “Likewise reckon,” not, observe, realize, that we could never do, but, “reckon”—account, “ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Surely nothing could possibly be plainer than this in the reckoning of faith. “Likewise”—in like manner, plainly means, that the believer is to reckon himself dead to sin and alive unto God in the same sense that Christ is. He who denies this, does violence to the word, casts an indignity on the work of Christ, and reaps, as the fruit of his unbelief, a harvest of doubts and fears.
Know then, O my soul, and be well assured of this great truth; —that death is thy only deliverer from sin, rind resurrection thy only way to the new creation.
We die out of the old state in His death, and rise into the new in His resurrection. This is deliverance! True, happy, heavenly deliverance! Within the gates of glory, in the reckoning of faith, thou mayest breathe freely and sing thy song of victory. No enemy can ever cross the grave of Christ. It is the grand terminus of sin, Satan, death, judgment, the world and the flesh. “The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Oh, glorious liberty! Oh, blessed reality! To be within the gates of thy glorious land, O Emmanuel! To know that no enemy can ever invade thy peaceful borders; that no evil can ever enter there; that no serpent will ever lurk in thy Eden—the blooming paradise of God; that no tree of the knowledge of good and evil shall ever grow there; is our unmingled blessedness, our eternal security.
And there we stand with Thee, even now, by faith, O Jesus, Savior and Lord; we only await Thy coming to take us there actually. “A little while,” and faith and hope must give place to the grand reality, the heavenly promise. “And they shall see his face.” Faith’s deepest hold of truth, and hope’s highest expectations, are all fulfilled; we have seen His face. This will be thy heaven of heavens, O my soul; to see Him as He is. But what of thy faith and hope now, tell me? All is well-; all is well; every wish is met, every desire is satisfied. I stand with Him who is Head of the new creation. One with Him in whom I died as a child of Adam; one with Him who bore my sins that I might be forgiven and have peace with God. Yes, I say it in the integrity of faith, on the authority of the Lord’s own word—“in Christ Jesus.” And my place and portion there are measured and expressed by Him. This I know, that I am one with Him in life, righteousness, privilege, blessing, glory; and where He is, there I shall be; and what He is, that I shall be forever. John 14, 17; Rom. 8.
Oh, happy soul, richly endowed and blessed, thou needest nothing more, only to feed on what thou hast and delight thyself in Him. But thinkest thou ever of those who have missed their way in this dark world, and know nothing of thy happiness? O seek to win such hapless souls to thy Savior. Every soul that thou winnest, will be as another precious stone in His diadem of glory. This is the happy work of the lover of souls—to gather precious stones from the rubbish of this world for His crown; they can be found nowhere else. And are there not many lost souls around thee to whom thou mayest speak, if thou canst not take a public place in testimony? Jesus says “Come,” to the weary and heavy laden; and thou mayest say, “Come;” and even to the chief of sinners Jesus said, “Make haste, and Come.” O wondrous words of purest grace, from the living lips of the blessed Jesus! “Make haste, and Come.” This could not mean to-morrow, but just at once. A child knows what “make haste” means, and why should sinners doubt and linger?
Nearest thou these encouraging words, my dear reader? Wilt thou come—come just now? Happily, for Zacchaeus, he made haste and came. And what did he receive? Salvation! But suppose for a moment he had lingered, doubted, reasoned, delayed, until it was too late, as many did then, and do now? What would the consequences have been? Salvation lost, the soul lost, Christ lost, heaven lost, and all the blessedness we have been describing. But what would be the sharpest sting of the undying worm? —self-reproach. The awful sentence would recall the past, justify the judge, and fill the condemned soul with speechless agony. “Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when darkness and anguish cometh upon you.” Pro. 1:24-27.
Oh, then, my dear reader, as thou wouldst not have this fearful sentence read to thee, with heaven’s gates closed and hell’s gates open, —come now to Jesus, “make haste and come.” Nothing could more express the Lord’s earnestness with lost sinners; nothing could more ensure thy sweet welcome to Him: but alas, alas, nothing could more deepen thy agonies, nothing could inure fill thee with unmitigated misery, if thou refusest, than thy reflections on that gracious word, “make haste and come.” The work of redemption is finished, all is done, thou hast only to yield thy heart to His love, believe His word, and trust the blood that can make thee whiter than snow. But on no consideration delay. O haste thee, haste thee, while the door is open, tomorrow may be too late, the door may be shut, and thy precious soul lost, lost forever and forever. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17.
Having so far cleared the ground, and shown the foundations of Christian devotedness in service, we will now go on with verse 2.
Meditations on Christian Devotedness
Verse 2. “And he not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye man prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” the connection between the first and second verses is manifest and beautiful. We have the body in the one and the mind in the other; the whole man is brought in we are also reminded thereby, that mere bodily exercise, though consisting in the diligent observance of rites and ceremonies, would profit nothing without the renewal of the mind. The inner as well as the outer man must be formed morally for god, and his service. Hence the one grand end for the christian to gain is the discernment of the will of god; and the highest expression of christian life in this world, is the life that is most perfectly subject to the divine will. We have to prove—though we may be long in doing so—that this and this only is good, acceptable, perfect, and well pleasing in his sight
This then is thy life lesson, O my soul; and thou wilt do well to study these two verses carefully and together. Meditate deeply on each member of each verse, they are peculiarly full of the most practical truth for the Christian. Obedience, devotedness, subjection to the Master’s will, are the truest features of the life of Christ in thee. This is to be thy one grand object—thy constant care—to be like Him! Lord grant a growing trans formation to Thine own image both within and without! And now, observe, that the first thing thou hast to learn is how to guard against the evil course of this world.
“And be not conformed to this world,” This is a hard lesson to learn. To be personally in a place where the habits and opinions of men rule, and yet to be outside of it morally—in heart and spirit—where the will of God rules, is thy lesson. Nothing but the grace of God and a close walk with Him could make thee triumph here. Imagine for a moment, a young Christian fresh in his first love and in the bloom of his new eternal life, actively engaged from morning till night in the city of Loudon, where gold is worshipped, and where everything, else is sacrificed to the idol. Nevertheless, non-conformity to the spirits around him must be maintained; and when the hour of closing comes, non-conformity to their ways. Evenings reveal whose we are and whom we love and serve. The happy Christian is ready, with all his heart, for the prayer, the worship, or the instruction meeting. And many such there are, the Lord be praised.
The secret of their strength is the knowledge of Christ and the heart’s occupation with Him. We learn to say in such circumstances, Christ is this to me, Christ is that to me, Christ is everything to me, thus it is all and only Christ. And no better school can there be to teach us watchfulness and dependence on him. The experience is good, we learn our own weakness and folly in the midst of those who would rejoice in the smallest compromise, and become more and more cast upon Christ, and learn more and more of the depths of his grace, the value of His word, and the glory of His Person. Or, as the Apostle John puts it, “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” 1 John 2:14.
THE CAUSE OF WEAKNESS: THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH.
There are some Christians who think it very humble to be doubting at times their own salvation; but such are always weak Christians, and constantly in danger of being conformed to the spirit, the conduct, and the customs of this present evil age. So long as there is uncertainty as to our own salvation, there will be occupation with self in place of Christ. This is ruinous as to testimony and consistency. When we are looking to ourselves—our feelings, doings, experience—the old nature is active. When we are looking to Christ—His love, His finished work, His place in the glory—the new nature is active. And this makes all the difference between the two Christians. The former is fighting with his own heart that loves the things he is to strive against, but his difficulties increase, and because there is no joy, there is no strength. The latter being set free from self, and looking to Jesus, finds in Him a positive power for conflict and service. When the eye is fixed on Him all other objects are shut out. The new nature and the new object acting thus upon each other, our joy abounds, our strength increases; all useless weights are laid aside and the sin that easily besets us, and we run with patience the race that is set before us. This is the only true principle of the transformation here spoken of.
“But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” We have briefly glanced at the negative side of the second verse—non-conformity to the world, separateness from its maxims and its ways.
We now come to the positive side—the renewing of the mind. This is all-important. It is the renewal of the whole inner man; the deep springs of the heart which only the eye of God can see. He looks for the renewal of the understanding, affections, and will. Our old ideas which ruled the mind before we knew God and His Christ must all be given up, and new thoughts, new motives, new objects, new feelings, new intentions, as springing from our one new object—Christ in the glory—must have full sway over all the faculties of the mind, as well as over all the members of the body. There must be a complete transformation within and without, by the renewing of the mind. The Christian is a new man in Christ, “which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Col. 1:10.
Most mysterious, but blessed indeed is the Christian’s position as here viewed! He must live, and think, and judge, in his new nature, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. At the same time he knows that the old nature is encompassing the new on every side, and which, though dead in the reckoning of faith, and according to the judgment of God on the cross, is still alive in fact, and will never fail to strive for its old seat of government in the mind and ways of the believer. This keeps him on his watch tower; from thence he discovers the movements of his enemies, and the mode of their attack. But he remembers the word, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” He is no longer in the flesh—though the flesh be in him—but in Christ as risen and exalted, and he knows it. This is the strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe. Thy strength, remember, O my soul, lies not in the number of thy privileges and blessings, but in the Person of thy Lord. Could the enemy beguile thee to count up thy many blessings as a believer, and meditate on these as thy riches apart from the Person of Christ, thou wouldst be little better than David when he numbered his men; or like John and James who were thinking about a good place in the kingdom. Paul desired Christ—“That I may win him.” Oh! think of Himself—the blessed Lord! think of the place he has in the favor of God; oh! think with what perfect complacency the Father’s eye rests on His well-beloved! and then think of thy place in Him, thy acceptance in Him, thy home, thy rest, thy peace, thy happy welcome in Him, forever and forever. This sums up all blessedness and sets the heart at rest forever—oneness with Christ.
“Jesus, my all in all Thou art,
My rest in toil, my case in pain;
The medicine of my broken heart;
‘Mid storms, my peace; in loss, my gain;
My smile beneath the tyrant’s frown;
In shame, my glory and my crown.”
We must now return for a moment to the practical working of this great principle in every-day life. Without the inward renewal which the apostle here insists upon, there could be no discernment of the mind of God, and no real separation from the world. The outward difference between the believer and the man of the world, must flow from the condition of the mind as renewed and strengthened by grace. Otherwise, it would be the merest formality. The path of separation is too narrow for the natural eye to discern. No broad lines are laid down in the word of God to mark the Christian’s way through this world; the spiritual eye alone can see the way out of it. “There is a path,” says Job, “which no fowl knoweth, and which no vulture’s eye hath seen.” Chapter 28:7.
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY.
The calling and responsibility of the Christian, then, is to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” This is to be his one grand object as to the whole path of his service in this world. But how, it may be asked, is this end to be gained? The truest answer would be—like-mindedness to Christ. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” And again, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” Paul says positively, “But we have the mind of Christ.” And if we arc to walk so as to please God, we must walk even as Christ walked. And this, according to John, is what we ought to do. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Phil. 2:5; Heb. 10:6; 1 Cor. 2:16 John 2:6.
The measure of the soul’s obedience to the will of God is Christ; He must be the alone object before the mind. But to prove that will practically, we must be whole-hearted for Him, and be strengthened by the power of His grace acting on the renewed mind. The Holy Spirit, who only can show us the mind of God, must be ungrieved. We must be continually on the watch against the inroads of the world—the spirit of the age—and gradually growing in grace and in the knowledge of the divine will in all things.
Christian devotedness is thus complete in truth; the whole man is consecrated to the Lord, and laid upon His altar. The body is yielded up, the mind is transformed, and the will of God discerned; the man as a whole is devoted to God. Elsewhere the apostle prays for the complete sanctification of the entire man, which we must just glance at in passing. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In this remarkable passage, it is the expressed will of God, that those who have been saved through grace, and brought into relationship with Himself, should be entirely consecrated to Him. This, surely, is devotedness without limit. It is the will of our God, that the Christian, in every part of his being, should be wholly sanctified, or consecrated, to Himself as “the very God of peace. What grace, what love, what goodness, thou mayest well exclaim, O my soul! It is overwhelming! As water rises to its level, so God would have thee, in every thought of thy mind, in every part of thy being, rise to Himself as thy proper object, resource, and rest.
The soul is usually spoken of as the individual; as, “The souls that came with Jacob into Egypt.” The body is the instrument of the soul’s expression and action; and the spirit, of its capacity and power. John the Baptist came in “the spirit and power of Elias,” not in the soul of Elias. Such is man in all the parts of his being; and the apostle prays that each part may’’ be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He does not say, observe, unto the day of death, but, “unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” This may show thee what an important place the coming of the Lord had in the mind of the apostle, or rather in the mind of the Holy Spirit, and what an important place it ought to have in the minds of all Christians. It is an essential, or at least, a most influential part of christian life. Its place in this passage is perfectly beautiful. The believer, who is now but in part sanctified, shall be wholly then, and in every part of his being—body, soul, and spirit. What a wonderful thought this gives us of what we may now call, poor humanity. Then it will be perfected in each part, ennobled by grace, conformed to the glorious image of Christ Himself, who is the Head and Source of this new life in the glory.
Who would not heave a sigh and drop a tear over the blind indifference of those who are pursuing a course that must lead to the utter ruin, and the eternal degradation of humanity in the depths of hell! How exalted in heaven, how lowered in hell! Stop, dear reader, stop, and think! Where wouldst thou be forever? Hurled down the deep descent into the fiery gulf of the burning lake, or carried on the wings of love to the bright regions of glory? It must be the one or the other. There is no middle path here, there is no middle place hereafter. What is thy governing object now? Christ or the world? This determines thy future state. If the world be chosen in place of Christ, and its pleasures preferred to His cross in following Him, thy condemnation will be just, and thy deep debasement but the natural consequence of thy inexcusable folly. But, oh, what a wreck! that fair and stately vessel—humanity—body, soul, and spirit, which might have entered the port of life under the banner of a Savior’s love, and amidst the joyous welcomes of many a well-known voice on that shining shore, now lies a hapless wreck on that dark, distant, dreary shore, the lake of fire. Think, oh think, dear reader! Would tears of blood be too much to shed over such a melancholy wreck of our common humanity? But think also, I pray thee, of a resurrection body, characterized by four things— “incorruption, glory, power, spiritual.” This is the noble vessel by which the saint in glory will express himself; the soul, the proper seat of affection, now purified and all its capacities enlarged, what love will it take in and give out! The mind, elevated and dignified by union with Christ, walks above the myriad hosts of shining ones who have never sinned, and in intelligent relationship with God, meditates on His glory. And what must the noble workings of that mind be, when moved, guided, and sustained by the Holy Spirit? This is the sure and happy portion of all who believe in Jesus now, and give their hearts to Him. Blessed privilege, precious opportunity; there is no time like the present! Let Him have thy heart now, my dear reader, thy whole heart, and forever!
Oh! happy Christian, thou mayest well give up the tinseled vanities of time for the glories of eternity. But even now thou knowest thy place in the glory. Christ, in His Person, and in His present position in the presence of God, is the expression of thy place there. Every believer has his place before God in Christ, and in the righteousness of God, which He accomplished in Christ, having glorified Himself in that obedient, blessed One. And now, God would have all who are brought into this relationship with Himself, to have no object before their minds but Christ in the glory, so that we may do His will, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Oh! who upon earth can conceive
What in heaven we are called to share!
Or who this dark world would not leave,
And earnestly long to be there!
There Christ is the light and the sun,
His glories unhinderedly shine;
Already our joy is begun,
Our rest is the glory divine.

‘Tis good, at His word, to be here,
Yet better by far to be gone,
And there in His presence appear,
And rest where He rests on the throne;
Yet, oh! it will triumph afford
When Him we shall see in the air:
When we enter the joy of the Lord,
Forever abide with him there.”

Meditations on Christian Devotedness
Verse 3. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly titan he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” The Christian’s walk, according to the first two verses, should be characterized by devotedness and obedience; and according to the verse before us, by humility and dependence.
These four graces, watchfully maintained in the presence of God, would certainly produce a very complete Christian; one very like his Lord and Master, who, though entirely devoted to the glory of God, was meek and lowly in heart. We should naturally suppose, that when there is such devotedness to God, both in body and soul, there would also be great sobriety of judgment and lowliness of mind. But, alas! it is not always so. The one is far from being a necessary consequence of the other. On the contrary, there is always a danger of the flesh coming in and availing itself of the power which such devotedness gives, either to assume a tone of superiority and high-mindedness, or to affect a false humility and speak contemptuously of self. This is manifest on every hand at the present hour, and it is written on every page of church history. Of this tendency the apostle was fully aware, and warns against it, as we learn from the peculiar tone and energy of his style in this verse.
The words, For I say, through the grace given unto me, “have more the tone of apostolic authority, than the affectionate entreaties of a brother, as in the first verse, I beseech you therefore, brethren.” But we must not suppose that the style of the one verse is less perfect, less consistent, less affectionate, than the other, but that the character of the exhortation, in the wisdom of God, required a different tone and style! Firmness is perfectly consistent with humility, and faithfulness with the strongest affection.
The apostle stands, as it were, at the center of practical Christianity. He sees its bearings on every side. His mind is filled with the higher principles of entire devotedness to the will of God, and also with the humbler gifts, which were to find their expression in the gracious ministries of love among the saints. He writes with decision and energy to secure both. The former he had faithfully enjoined in the first two verses; and now he is about to expatiate with great minuteness on the latter. The third verse is his stand-point. He clearly sees and feels as one standing in the light of God, that high mindedness would be ruinous to the first, and an effectual hindrance to the second. The will of God being the object of christian service, whether in the higher or humbler sphere, real devotedness must consist in the denial of self, and in humbly waiting on God to know His good and perfect will in all things. The human will must be set aside, if we are to enter into the meaning, importance, and application of this condensed treasury of practical Christianity.
Thou wilt now see, O my soul, a divine reason for the changed style of the great apostle; and thou wilt also see that he is most personal in his application of this weighty truth. He does not merely address the church as a body, but he appeals to everyone among the saints at Rome; the least as well as the greatest. This will show thee how prone all are to over-value themselves, even in the church of God and in their service to His saints. Oh, what deceitful hearts we have! What need for watchfulness! —for constant communion with the truly humble and blessed Lord, who “loved us, and gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savor.”
But there is an opposite error into which many fall, and which must be as carefully avoided by the Christian. This is an affectation of humility by speaking of oneself in a depreciating manner. When a man speaks of “his small measure; of being the most unfit person for the important work he has in hand;” we feel that he is either insincere or unwise. God never requires the exercise of a gift which He has not bestowed. This species of false humility must be watched against by all who would walk with God in integrity of heart. God is real and He must have reality in us; He is true and He must have truth in the inward parts. Nevertheless, there are those who honestly, but unduly, depreciate their gift and fail to act for God and His people. This is a false modesty, and also a serious evil, and one which the Lord must judge sooner or later. But now, mark well, my soul, the wisdom of holy scripture. This alone, by God’s grace, can give thee a well-balanced, a well-adjusted mind.
“Think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” The first thing is to find thy true place in the presence of God according to thy faith in Christ, and then thy own place amongst thy fellow-servants. The measure of faith with which each believer is blest, in the sovereign grace of God, becomes the proper limit, within which he is to occupy himself according to the will of God. Surely the man who has the greatest who is a father in Christ, and who knows most of the word of God, will rise to his own level among his fellow Christians, where the Holy Spirit rules. The Lord give us to know the measure and character of our gift, what He has prepared us for; that we may be preserved from all extremes. In this as in all things the Christian’s path is a narrow one, and requires spiritual discernment. Nothing short of constant communion with Him who closed His life of perfect obedience on the cross, will keep us in the place of true humility, obedience, and dependence. O Lord, lead Thy servants over Thine own path, preserve them from the indolence that falls asleep, from the energy of nature that would go too fast, from a false modesty that refuses to do Thy bidding, and from the want of modesty that would yield to the impulse of the natural will. May we never forget, that “ unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of Christ.” Eph. 4:7.
I would not work, my soul to save,
That work my Lord bath done
But I would work like any slave
For love to God’s dear Son.
Meditations on Christian Devotedness
Verses 4, 5. “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” The apostle having laid down the great principles of individual Christian devotedness, now descends to all the forms which the ministry of love assumes in the Christian, “according to the various positions in which he stands, and to the spirit in which he ought to walk in every relationship.” The theme before thee now, O my soul, is christian service.
Thou wilt do well to pause here for a little, and meditate on the foundation of this service and its peculiar character. It is by no means generally or well understood. Still it is always well to ascertain, when revealed, the divine reason of things, the spring from whence they flow. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” The Christian’s relation to the body of Christ, and to all other Christians as members of that one body, forms the true basis, and the wide sphere, of Christian duties as detailed in this twelfth chapter. This was an entirely new thing in the ways of God with men. We have nothing corresponding to it in the Old Testament, nor even during the life of the blessed Lord on the earth. There were saints of God from the beginning, souls born of God, but they were never formed into one body till after the cross and ascension of Christ. When He was glorified at God’s right hand in heaven, the Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost, and united Jew and Gentile into one body on the earth.
The body was then formed in union with the exalted Head. This is the church. It is something more than merely believing, they are members of Christ’s body and of one another on the earth. See especially, 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 2:13-16.
The doctrine of the unity of the church as the body of Christ is most fully unfolded in 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Here it is only referred to in a practical point of view, and that, in connection with the duties of the members individually—duties that flow from their position in the one body, being severally members one of another. This is the new platform laid down by the apostle for the new order of christian ministry, which has its immediate sphere of exercise within the limits of the church as the one body. In illustration of this union and responsibility, he refers to the wonderful structure of the human body. “For we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office.” Every member has its proper place, and its proper function to perform in the human body; and every member is valuable according to its healthful activity and usefulness. Though all the members are not of equal importance, yet none are useless. The smallest and least honorable is necessary to the others, and should be treated with even more consideration, as the apostle elsewhere teaches. “And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor.” The foot may be less comely than the eye, but the eye could not perform the peculiar function of the foot, therefore the eye must honor the foot for the valuable services it renders to the body, though it may be covered with dust by the way.
But enough as to the figure, its completeness will more fully appear as we proceed with our chapter.
In the meantime, let me invite dice, O my soul, to a closer acquaintance with thy Lord, as Head of the church, before looking at the various gifts in the members. They all flow from Him who provides for the spiritual supply of His people’s wants. He is the source of their blessing in virtue of their union with Him. Oh, wondrous truth! Oh, blessed! Oh, happiness complete! Christ as tie exalted Man in the glory, the measure and fullness of thy blessing! Thou art one with Him! Having glorified God on the earth, having blotted out sin, abolished death, vanquished Satan, risen again from the dead, He ascended up on high as the Head of His body the church. He entered heaven, not on the ground of His own essential righteousness, not as God, nor simply as man, but “by His own blood.” This was His title to the throne; His own shed blood. “When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.” And this is thy title; He goes in on the ground of His people’s title. We are “made nigh by the blood of Christ.” This is the great truth that goes to the very depths of the heart of faith. Only think, and still think; meditate, and still meditate; until thou art far beyond thy depth in that ocean of love which flows around that cross and around that throne. What seest thou? The Man Christ Jesus on the throne. What is His title to be there? The putting away of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. What, then, is He to thy heart as the Man in the glory? He is the witness that my sins were all put away on the cross; that God’s righteous judgment against my sins has been borne and vindicated; that I am before God in Christ, in the righteousness of God Himself; that Christ, in His person, and in His present position, is the expression of my place and portion there! To know Him, is to know my own place in the glory. But what more can I say? It is an ocean without a shore. And it is true of all believers—of every member of His body, the feeblest as well as the strongest. The apostle John sets his seal to this, “As he is, so are we in this—world.”
But grace has no evil eye. We forget not the Christless soul, the portionless, the godless, the homeless soul. This wealthy portion may be thine, my dear reader, even though thou art the chief of sinners. It was for sinners and for sinners the chief, that Jesus died. All, all, is thine if thou wilt only believe. The gospel is preached to faith. In the finished work of Christ and His exaltation, thou hast a solid ground for the immediate pardon of thy sins, and the complete salvation of thy soul. God has glorified Himself in Christ, and He is waiting to glorify Himself again, in the full remission of all thy sins through faith in His well-beloved Son. This is all; honor the Son; embrace the Son; honor Him as the one that suffered to save thee from everlasting suffering in the lake of fire. Yes, this is all; honor Him with thy faith, thy confidence, thy worshipful adoration. Is it difficult to love one who so loves; to trust one who was faithful unto death; who is God as well as man?
But be assured, if thou art still careless, that great and wonderful as the work of Christ is, it is of no value to thee without faith. But its full value is thine the moment thou hast faith in Him. He has borne the judgment due to sin, He has done all that is needed for the glory of God and for the salvation of the sinner; the work is absolutely complete. He who knew best, said, “ It is finished.” Believe it, it is true; believe it now, and thou art saved, saved forever. Oh! turn not, I pray thee, a deaf or a careless ear to the joyful sound. Oh! hear the joyful sound of heaven in that one word, Come! Come! COME! Love waits, love lingers; sin and Satan are also here! The awful judgment of God is hanging over this doomed world; hanging over thee; flee, then, oh! flee, to the only shelter from the impending storm, from wrath to the uttermost, the sure shelter of the Savior’s blood. Rest on this word whatever thy frames and feelings may be, “The blood of Jesus ‘Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.
“THE ever-blessed Son of God
Went up to Calvary for me:
There paid my debt, there bore my load,
In His own body on the tree.

Jesus, whose dwelling is the skies,
Went down into the grave for me;
There overcame my enemies,
There won the glorious victory.

In love the whole dark path He trod,
To consecrate a way for me;
Each bitter footstep marked with blood,
From Bethlehem to Calvary.”