Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Stepping into the Blessed Life
There is a Christian life, which, in comparison with what is experienced by the majority of Christians, is as different as summer is to winter or as the mature fruitfulness of a golden autumn is to the struggling promise of a cold and late spring. Caleb might have lived such a life in Hebron, the city of fellowship, or as the apostle John lived when he wrote his epistles. It might properly be called the blessed life.
The blessedness of the blessed life lies in this: that we trust the Lord to do in us and for us what we cannot do ourselves. In doing so, we find that He does not contradict His Word, but that, according to your faith be it unto you (Matthew 9:29). The weary spirit that has unsuccessfully sought to realize its ideal by its own strivings and efforts, now gives itself over to the strong and tender hands of the Lord Jesus and He accepts the task. He immediately begins to work in it to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), delivering it from the tyranny of besetting sin and fulfilling in it His own perfect ideal.
This blessed life should be the normal life of every Christian – at work and rest, in the building up of the inner life, and in the working out of life. This is God’s thought not for a few, but for all His children. The youngest and weakest can claim it equally with the strongest and oldest. We should step into it at the moment of conversion without wandering with blistered feet for forty years in the desert, or lying for thirty-eight years with disappointed hopes in the porch of the House of Mercy.
But since many have long ago passed the moment of conversion without entering the blessed life, it may be best to show clearly what the first step must be to take us within its golden circle. Better take it late than never.
The first step into the blessed life is contained in the one word, consecration.
It is enforced by the significant urging of the apostle Paul: present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13).
It isn’t enough to give our time, or energy, or money. Many gladly give anything rather than themselves, but none of these will be counted as a sufficient substitute by Him who gave not only His possessions, but also His very self for us. In the same way the Lord Jesus was all for us, He asks that we be all for Him − body, soul, and spirit – one reasonable service and gift. Therefore, I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies in living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing unto God, which is your rational worship. And be not conformed to this age, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your soul that ye may experience what is that good and well pleasing and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).
The fact that consecration is the stepping-stone to blessedness is clearly established in the experience of God’s children. For instance, Frances Ridley Havergal has left us this record:
It was on Advent Sunday, December 1873, that I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash of electric light, and what you see you can never unsee. There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness. God admits you by the one into the other. First, I was shown that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin; and then it was made plain to me that He who had thus cleansed me, had power to keep me clean; so I utterly yielded myself to Him and utterly trusted Him to keep me.
The seraphic Whitfield, the Wesley brothers, the great Welsh preacher Christmas Evans, the French pastor Oberlin, and many more have given the same testimony. And from their mouths this truth may surely be looked upon as established, so that we must pass through Gilgal to the Land of Rest, and the strait gate of consecration alone leads into the blessed life.
There is a twofold ground of proprietorship:
a) We are His by purchase. For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20). Step into that slave market where men and women are waiting like possessions to be bought. In the distance you see a wealthy planter coming, who, after appropriate examination, lays down his money for a number of men and women to stock his estate. From that moment on, those people are absolutely his property, as much so as his cattle or his sheep. All they possess, all they may earn, is absolutely his. So, the apostles reasoned, they were Christ’s, and often they began their epistles by calling themselves the slaves of Jesus Christ. Paul went so far as to say that he bore in his body the brand-marks of Jesus. And aren’t all Christians Christ’s, whether they own it and live up to it or not, because He purchased them by His most precious blood?
b) We are His also by deed of gift. The Father has given to the Son all who shall come to Him. If you have ever come or will come to Jesus Christ as your Savior, you show that you have been included in that wonderful donation. All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and he that comes to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). Is it likely that the Father gave only a part of us? No, as completely as He gave His Son for us, so has He given us to His Son. And our Lord Jesus thinks a great deal of that solemn transaction; though sadly, we often live as if it never took place and think we are free to live as we please.
The mighty men of old of Israel were willing to swim the rivers at their flood stage in order to come to David, their uncrowned but God-appointed king. And when they met him, they cried, “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse” (1 Chronicles 12:18). They were his because God had given them to him, but they couldn’t rest content until they were his also by their willing choice. Why then shouldn’t we say the same to Jesus Christ?
Lord Jesus, I am Yours by right. Forgive me that I have lived so long as if I were my own. I now gladly recognize that You have a rightful claim on all I have and am. I want to live as Yours from this time forth, and at this time I solemnly give myself to You. Yours in life and death. Yours absolutely and forever.
Don’t try to make a covenant with God for fear you might break it and be discouraged. Instead, quietly fall into your right attitude as one who belongs to Christ. Take as your motto the noble confession, whose I am and whom I serve (Acts 27:23). Breathe the grand, old, simple lines:
Just as I am,
Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come.
Don’t try to feel anything. Don’t try to make yourself suitable or good or serious enough for Christ. God is working in you to desire, whether you feel it or not. He is giving you power, at this moment, to want and to do His good pleasure. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Believe this, and act upon it at once, and say, “Lord Jesus, I am willing to be Yours”; or, if you can’t say as much as that, say, “Lord Jesus, I am willing to be made willing to be Yours forever.”
Consecration is only possible when we give up our will about everything. As soon as we come to the point of giving ourselves to God, we are almost certain to become aware of the presence of one thing, if not more, that is out of harmony with His will. And while we feel able to surrender ourselves on all other points, here we exercise reservation. Every room and cupboard in the house, with the exception of this, are thrown open to the new occupant. Every limb in the body, except one, is submitted to the practiced hand of the Great Physician. But that small reserve spoils the whole. To give ninety-nine parts and to withhold the hundredth undoes the whole transaction.
Jesus will have all or none. And He is wise. Who would live in a fever-stricken house so long as one room was not exposed to disinfectants, air, and sun? Who would undertake a case so long as the patient refused to submit one part of his body to examination? Who would become responsible for a bankruptcy so long as one ledger was kept back? The reason so many fail to attain the blessed life is that there is one point in which they hold back from God, and concerning which they prefer to have their own way and will rather than His. In this one thing they will not yield their will and accept God’s, and this one little thing mars the whole, robs them of peace, and compels them to wander in the desert.
Many have been helped by hearing it put this way: tell them to give and they shake their heads despondently. They are like the little child who told her mother that she had been trying to give Jesus her heart, but it wouldn’t go. But ask them if they are willing for Him to come into their hearts and take all, and they will joyfully agree.
Tennyson says, “Our wills are ours to make them Thine.” But sometimes it seems impossible to shape them in such a way as to match every corner and angle of the will of God. What a relief it is at such a moment to hand the will over to Christ, telling Him that we are willing to be made willing to have His will in all things, and asking Him to melt our stubborn rebelliousness, to fashion our wills on His anvil, and to bring us into perfect harmony with Himself.
Jesus doesn’t wait for us to free ourselves from evil habits, or to make ourselves good, or to feel glad and happy. His one desire is that we put our will on His side in everything. When this is done, He instantly enters the surrendered heart and begins His blessed work of renovation and renewal. From the very moment of consecration, even if it is done with much feebleness and little appreciation of its meaning, the spirit can begin to say with emphasis, “I am His! I am His! Glory to God, I am His!” The gift is laid directly on the altar, and the fire falls on it.
Sometimes there is a rush of holy feeling. It was like this in the case of James Brainerd Taylor, who said:
I felt that I needed something which I did not possess. I desired it, not for my benefit only, but for that of the church and the world. I lifted up my heart that the blessing might descend. At this juncture I was most delightfully conscious of giving up all to God. I was enabled in my heart to say, “Here, Lord, take me, take my whole soul, and seal me thine – thine now, and thine for ever. If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Then there ensued such emotions as I never before experienced – all was calm and tranquil, silent, solemn – and a heaven of love pervaded my whole soul. I had a witness of God’s love to me, and of mine to him. Shortly after, I was dissolved in tears of love and gratitude to our blessed Lord. He came as king, and took possession of my heart.
It’s delightful when such emotions are granted to us, but we must not look for or depend on them. Our consecration can be accepted and excite the liveliest joy in our Savior’s heart, even though we aren’t filled with responding ecstasy. We can know with certainty that the great transaction is complete, without any glad outburst of song. We may even have to exercise faith, and go against our feelings, many times each day, and say, “I am His.” But the absence of feeling proves nothing. We must pillow our heads on the conviction that Jesus took what we gave at the moment of our giving it, and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12).
George Whitfield did it in the ordination service: “I can call heaven and earth to witness that when the bishop laid his hands upon me, I gave myself up to be a martyr for Him who hung upon the cross for me. Known unto Him are all the future events and contingences. I have thrown myself blindfolded, and without reserve, into His Almighty hands.”
Christmas Evans did it as he was climbing a lonely and mountainous road toward Cader Idris: “I was weary of a cold heart toward Christ and began to pray, and soon felt the fetters loosening. Tears flowed copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God. Thus, I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul, gifts and labors, all my life, every day and every hour that remained to me; and all my cares I committed to Christ.”
Stephen Grellet did so in the woods: “I had gone into the woods, which are there, mostly, of very lofty and large pines, and my mind being inwardly retired before the Lord, he was pleased so to reveal his love to me, through his blessed Son, my Saviour, that my many fears and doubts were at that time removed, my soul’s wounds were healed, my mourning was turned into joy. He strengthened me to offer up myself freely to him and to his service for my whole life.”
It matters little when and how we do it – whether by speech or in writing, whether alone or in company – but we must not be content with a general desire. We must come to a definite point, at a given moment of time, when we gladly acknowledge and confess Christ’s absolute ownership of all we are and have.
We can look back on this act with thankfulness and may add some new details to it as we learn how much more was involved than we ever dreamed. It is an ongoing process and we may go on to find new areas of our being constantly demanding to be included. But we can’t undo it and need never repeat it. And if we fall away from it, let us go at once to our merciful High Priest, confessing our sin and seeking forgiveness and restoration.
The advantages surpass all count. The first and best is the special filling by the Holy Spirit, and as He fills the heart, He drives out the evil things which held possession there too long before Him, just as mercury, poured into a glass of water, sinks to the bottom, expels the water, and takes its place. We give ourselves directly to Christ, and He seals us by His Spirit. Without delay, we present Him with a yielded nature, and He begins to fill it with the Holy Spirit. Let us not try to feel that it is so, but rather let us believe that it is so, and reckon on God’s faithfulness. Others will soon see a marked difference in us, even though we may have no knowledge of it.
Remember that Jesus Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), and He waits to do the same for you. Ask Him to maintain you in this attitude, and to maintain this attitude in you. Regularly use the means of meditation, private prayer, and Bible study. Seek forgiveness for any failure as soon as you are conscious of it, and ask to be restored. Practice the godly habit of the constant calling of God to mind. Do not be eager to work for God, but let God work through you. Accept everything that happens to you as being permitted and therefore sent by the will of Him who infinitely loves you. There will roll in upon you wave upon wave, tide upon tide, ocean upon ocean of an experience rightly called the blessed life, because it is full of the happiness of the ever-blessed God Himself.
Dear reader, won’t you take this step? When you do, your heart will be filled and satisfied with the true riches. There will be no further difficulty regarding money, clothing, or amusements, or similar things that raise questions and perplex some. As the willing slave of Jesus Christ, you will only seek to do the will of your great and gentle Master. You will long to spend every coin as He directs, to act as His steward, to dress so as to give Him pleasure, to spend your time only in ways He may approve, and to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, and all this will come easily and with delight.
Perhaps at this time you are far from this, but it is all within your reach. Don’t be afraid of Christ. He wants to take nothing from you except the very things you would give up immediately if you could see as clearly as He does the harm they are inflicting. He will ask nothing of you that is inconsistent, and what He asks He will ask with the most perfect appropriateness and tenderness. He will give you grace enough to perform every duty He may demand. His yoke is easy; His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).
Blessed Spirit of God, You alone can use human words to speak to the heart. I pray you will stoop to use these words to point many a longing soul to the first step into the blessed life, for the exceeding glory of the Lord Jesus and for the sake of a dying world.