When one turns to the Lord, the veil is
taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:16,17
Liberty from what?
Well, if we turn to the Lord, and are occupied with Him in the way we have
indicated, the Holy Spirit sets us free. It may be you are struggling,
striving, fighting, wrestling, praying, pleading, longing, yearning, asking the
Lord to set you free from condemnation, free from fear, from those paralyzing
bonds in which Israel was when the glory appeared. Do you want to be free from
fear, from dread, from terror, from condemnation? What are you doing to get
free? There is one simple, direct way, namely, to be occupied with the Lord, to
turn to the Lord. Get Christ as God's satisfaction in your view, and cease
trying to satisfy God yourself. Faith in Christ is all God's requirement. How
deeply true were His words, "Apart from Me ye can do nothing."
"Abide in Me. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." That is only figurative
language, which means be occupied with Him, set your mind on Him, dwell in Him,
rest in Him, abide in Him; or, as Paul would say, "Gaze on Him, behold
Him," let Him be the object of your occupation, and the Spirit will make
you free.
More than that, this
beholding of Christ means that the Holy Spirit changes you into God's likeness:
"Beholding... we are changed." It is not said, "Beholding, we
begin to change ourselves," and we embark upon self-transformation with
all its struggle, and conflict, and battle. We are changed by the Lord the
Spirit. Be occupied with Christ, and the Spirit takes up the matter of
transforming into His image. Be occupied with yourself, and you will see that
the law of conformity to type operates. If you are the type, then you will
conform to that type. If Christ is the type, then the Holy Spirit will conform
to His likeness. Then this being occupied with Christ means that the Holy
Spirit makes us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant. I do not think that
ministry is such an onerous thing after all. We need to come back to the
simplicity and the spontaneity of ministry. Be occupied with Christ, and the Holy
Spirit will show you more and more in Christ with which to be occupied, and as
He makes that livingly real, you will have something to give to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment