THE PRESENT CHRIST
By: James M. Campbell

The doctrine of the indwelling of Christ in the heart is revolutionary.

If Christ be within, there He must be sought; there is He to be found. Alas, that His presence, while not denied should so often be unrealized. Many Christians seem hardly to be aware that a Royal Guest has taken up His abode within their hearts. Their consciousness of His indwelling is at best fitful and dim. Their assurance of salvation is overcast with clouds because it lacks the important element of full assurance or faith in the Divine Indwelling Presence. They resemble a beleaguered castle from which the regular water supply has been cut off. The soldiers are suffering and dying of thirst, not aware that deep in the recesses of the fortress, cut out of the solid rock, there is a hidden well whose waters fail not. What a thrill of joy the discovery of that well would bring to the remnant of that forlorn garrison! The knowledge of that secret spring would be to them life from the dead; and its water would be in very truth the water of life. A like change would come over many a drooping heart were the discovery to be made that spiritual supplies are not to be fetched from afar; that infinite resources have been placed within easy reach; that deep within the living sanctuary of the soul there is an unfailing fountain which renders every one who avails himself of it perfectly independent of outward circumstances and surroundings. No haunting fear of future thirst-pangs can ever come to him who know that the water which Christ has given him has "become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life."

No distant Christ can wipe away our tears, bear our heavy burdens, crush the heads of the serpent's brood that nestle in the breast, purify our hearts from sin, and impart unto us sufficiency of strength for daily toil and sacrifice. Until the personal presence of Christ becomes the profoundest fact of consciousness no real test has been made of His power to comfort, to quicken and to save.

Only from a present Christ can present salvation come. To those in whom He consciously indwells the fullness of His redeeming energy is made immediately available. They do not need to go up to heaven to bring their Saviour down, they do not need to go down to the abyss to bring Him up.

From: The Indwelling Christ. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. 1895.