It is just as natural and easy for a Christian to live the Christian life
as it is for a sinner to live a sinful life. The sinner needs make no
effort to live a sinful life; he lives it naturally and easily. Life
proceeds from the heart. The heart is the fountain, and the life is the
stream. As the fountain is, so the stream will be. It is not difficult to
live a Christian life when our hearts are pure. This is the secret of
purity of life.
The important question, then, is, "How can I have a pure heart?" Hearts
are made pure by the blood of Jesus. Then comes the command, "Keep thyself
pure." That the heart may be kept pure, it must be kept filled with that
which is pure. To keep darkness out of a room, we need only to keep it
filled with light. Carefully closing up every crevice will not suffice if
the light goes out. Darkness will be present. But simply keep the room
filled with light, and no effort is required to keep darkness out. In like
manner no effort need be made to keep impurity out of the heart and keep
the heart filled with that which is pure.
But what is pure? "The word of God is pure, as silver tried in a furnace
of fire, purified seven times." "Thy word is very pure; therefore thy
servant loveth it." "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," and your
heart will be kept pure. The Psalm-writer said, "Thy word have I hid in my
heart, that I may not sin against thee." Here is the only way to a sinless
life. Keep the heart filled with the Word of God. It is the way to live as
the Bible reads. To have a nicely bound volume of the Scriptures lying on
the center table will not keep the life sinless. We must have the Word in
our heart. One night while I was waiting for a train in one of our large
Eastern cities, I went into a mission. A man arose and said he had read
the Bible through forty-two times and could quote whole books of it from
memory. Later in his talk he said he committed sin more or less every day.
The Word of God did not keep him from sinning, for he had it in his head
instead of in his heart.
To live a Bible life is the only true and right way to live, and in order
to live such a life, we need to have the Word written in the heart. "I
will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Heb. 8:
10. Let us illustrate this by taking a single text: "Having food and
raiment let us be therewith content." When we have these words in the
heart, they will be true in the life. All fret and worry and murmurings
will be banished out of the life when the heart is full of the truth.

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Samuel

When we as Christians obtain the "unconcious Competent" status....where our reflex reactions produce Godly responses without having to constantly think about HOW to react...then the Christian walk does become easier. Because of the love we learn to have for our LORD, though the attacks of the day do not diminish, though those who would live in apathy around us remain stubbornly unchanged, though serving CHRIST cost us all....yet such is HIS call that we continue on...reminding us that HE already won the victory. My walk bears no less stripes for having drawn closer to HIM and learned more and more of HIS great compassion. Quite the opposite. But my Joy through the stripes...just as Paul shares...makes the path HE has me on...beyond Comprehension. Hence, we serve expectant! Bless you for your posting! Praise the LORD!

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Whitney