Living
The Abundant Life By Dying To Self
The abundant life is
the life that arises out of death to ourselves and not from deeds that we have
done.
The life that wins is an actuality, not
just an inspiration. Its secret is
simple, and yet profound.
It is plain to the heart filled with faith
and obedience, but it is perplexing to self-will and self-effort.
It is an obtainment, not an attainment.
It is from above and not from within
us.
It is from heaven and is revealed on
earth.
The details in individual experience differ
appreciably, and are related to the personality and the circumstances of that
life.
Beyond the details, however, the pattern of
the exchanged life is quite the same for each one.
The Exchanged Life
Just
as salvation is by faith, so also is the exchanged life.
First, there is an
awareness of our need, as expressed by the Lord Jesus “If any man thirst ...“(John 7:37).
In similar vein the
psalmist prayed: “... my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh
longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power
and thy glory...“ (Psalm
63:1-2)
Then there is agony of soul because of that
awareness.
One remembers the
beatitude: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for
they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
Hunger and thirst are not happy
experiences, but they lead to true happiness.
Crucifixion is a most painful process and
the soul that longs for fullness of life in Christ finds that the doorway to it
is death to self.
The Scriptures
declare plainly: “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts” (Galatians
5:24).
It may seem that agony of soul is beyond
endurance.
But beyond it one
comes to the glorious realization as described in Galatians 2:20 - “I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Abandonment To The Savior
The
experience follows wholehearted, unreserved abandonment to the Savior.
Sick of self and
sin we obey the clear injunction of Romans 6:13: “... yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Thereby Romans
12:1,2 becomes a living word to us: “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. And be not conformed to this world: 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.”
Life however is not achieved by longing for
a better life and lingering at the cross.
There must be appropriation by faith of the
Holy Spirit to fill life with the presence of the Lord Jesus. That obtainment
is by faith, and not by works.
Inquires the
Scripture: “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of
the law, or by the hearing of faith?”
(Galatians
3:2).
Just as we accept the Lord Jesus by faith
as Savior, so by simple faith we received the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Just as we took the Lord as our sin-bearer,
we take the Holy Spirit as our burden-bearer.
Just as we take the Savior as our penalty
for sins that are past, we take the Holy Spirit for power over indwelling sins
that are present.
Jesus is our atonement; the Holy Spirit is
our advocate.
In salvation we receive newness of life; by
the Holy Spirit we find life more abundant.
In each case the appropriation is by faith
and, by faith alone, wholly apart from any feeling on our part.
Following appropriation there is abiding by
faith in the Savior.
Did He not say:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can
ye, except ye abide in me. I am the
vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
Abiding is obedience to His will.
Declares 1 John
3:24: “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given
us.”
Abiding is not striving nor struggling,
learned Hudson Taylor, but a resting in the Faithful One, and implicit
obedience to Him.
The surrendered life that abides is a life
of surrender.
The exchanged life is one of
abundance.
Jesus promised “rivers
of living water” to flow from the Spirit-filled life (John 7:38).
There is provision for life more abundant (John 10:10).
And that life is
indeed one of constant adventure, for it learns the wonderful reality of John
10:4: “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him: for they know his voice.”
Who knows where He will lead and what He
will say?
Ear is tender to hear His voice, and heart
is on tiptoe to see what next the Altogether Lovely One will do.
And that life can be yours and mine!
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