By J.R. Miller
It is not enough to cut loose from the old life--the young Christian must enter the new life. Leaving the service of one master--he must enlist in that of another. Withdrawing his heart's affections from one class of objects--he must fix them upon another class. Ceasing to do evil--he must also learn to do good. No longer a servant of sin--he must become a servant of righteousness. Mere turning from sin is not enough--giving up one's wicked ways is but half of conversion--there must also be a devotement of the life to Christ. The heart cannot be left empty.
"When Boniface had hewn down the sacred oak worshiped by the savages in the tangled forests of Germany, he did not stop with destroying it--but when it was felled, built out of its fallen and splintered fragments, a Christian chapel, and in the place of the worship of Thor the Thunderer--left the worship of Christ the crucified."
When we break with the world--we must straightway bow before Christ! Indeed, we can be freed from the dominion of the old master--only by the coming into our hearts of the new Master. The only way we can turn from sin--is by turning to Christ. He then becomes both Deliverer and King; both Savior and Lord. As such he must be accepted, and the whole allegiance of the life should instantly be transferred to him.
This is conversion; it is going over to Christ fully, wholly, freely and forever. It is not merely attaching ourselves to the church--it is attaching ourselves to Christ. It is not merely entering upon a good moral life--pure, honest, clean; not merely engaging in active Christian work--it is the acceptance of Christ, first as a personal Savior--then as a personal Lord. It is coming to Christ himself--believing on him, following him, loving him, obeying him.
It is important that the young Christian shall understand this, and that his devotion to his Lord must be real and complete. No man can serve two masters. A divided allegiance will not do. True consecration carries all over to Christ.
For one thing, this means holiness--"You are not your own, for you are bought with a price--therefore glorify God." Holiness means separation for God. The life which belongs to Christ must be kept from sin. The hands which are held up in prayer and that take the sacramental emblems, must not touch any unclean thing. The lips which speak to God, sing his praise and pronounce his name, must not be stained by any sinful or bitter words. The heart which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, must not open to any thought or affection which would defile God's temple. The feet which Christ's pierced hands have washed, must not walk in any of sin's unhallowed paths. A consecrated life must be holy.
Unholiness is very subtle. It creeps in when we are not aware. It begins in the heart. At first it is but a thought, a moment's imagination, a passing emotion, or a desire. Hence the heart should be kept with unremitting diligence. Only pure and good thoughts should be entertained. It is in the thoughts, that all acts begin. All acts are first thoughts. Our thoughts build up our character, as the coral insects build up the great reefs. As a man thinks in his heart--so is he. If we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, as we pass through its foul streets--we must see to it that no unholy thing is for a moment tolerated in our heart. A crime stains one's name before the world; a sinful thought or desire stains the soul in God's sight and grieves the divine Spirit within us. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this--to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
But the keeping of the life from being polluted by the world, is not the whole of living for God--there must be service also. When young Christians are received into the church, they profess to dedicate themselves and all they have--time, talents, money, every power of body, soul, and spirit--to the service of Christ forever. This means that they will no longer claim mastership over themselves; that henceforth they are Christ's servants; that they will live for Christ alone, all their days; that they will listen at each step for his command and promptly obey it; that they will devote all their possessions to him, using them for him and at his bidding; and that they will employ their talents and influence to advance his kingdom.
Daily duty in the common relations of life, is as much part of a true consecration--as are praying, reading the Bible, and attending church services. If the heart is given to Christ, the whole life is holy. After we become Christians, we do not live two lives--one religious and one secular. We are always to do God's will, and it is as much his will that we should be diligent in business--as that we should be fervent in prayer.
When young people yet in school become Christians, they are not to drop their secular studies and read the Bible all the time--they are to go on with their lessons--only with new motives, for Christ now--faithfully using every moment, diligently striving to get the greatest possible benefit and improvement from their education to fit them for the life and work before them. When religion makes a pupil less diligent, less studious, less earnest--there is something wrong. When a young man in a trade or business gives himself to Christ, unless his occupation is sinful, he is ordinarily called to continue in it, carrying his Christian principles into it and doing business now for Christ.
Secular work is not unholy. All duty is sacred in God's sight. The hands of Jesus swung the ax and pushed the saw--and he pleased the Father just as well then--as when he was praying and reading the Scriptures. Paul's hand sewed tents, and he was just as near to God when thus at work--as when he was preaching in the synagogue.
Of course the motive of life is changed when we truly belong to Christ. SELF comes down from the throne--and we do everything for the Master--"Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do--do all the glory of God!" We train our powers to greater efficiency--that we may be more useful in Christ's work. We live carefully--that in the smallest things we may honor him. We see increased influence that we may do more to bless the world and advance the glory of Christ's name. The world is reading our lives--and it reads no other Bible! We must make sure, therefore, that our daily actions spell out the true gospel, so that no one who sees us may ever get from us a wrong thought of Christ, or a wrong sense of his pure religion.
We do not understand one half the blessing to others, and the influence for religion there is--in simply being godly. We struggle to be active and to do many things. We run everywhere to work for Christ. We think that unless we are always doing something, or talking to somebody, or holding a meeting somewhere, or visiting the poor or the sick--that we are not useful. This is a great mistake! There is no other such power for real usefulness and helpfulness; there is no other such glorifying of God--as in simply being godly. A holy life itself is highest service.
Hence there should be in every young Christian, the most conscientious watchfulness over the early growths of spirituality in his own heart. These growths are tender and easily destroyed, like the young plants which the gardener keeps in his nursery through the winter and cool spring days.
The whole matter of heart culture requires the utmost diligence. All life--business and social as well as religious--must be made to contribute to it. We should form our friendships and choose our amusements--with reference to their effect on our heart life. Someone has given this true test, and the application should be wide as life itself--"Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your view of God or takes off the relish of spiritual things--in short, whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind--that is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."
A life so regulated, so watched, so ruled by conscience and by the Word and Spirit of God--will grow into a living power of real holiness--the value of whose ministry will be incalculable in its silent pervasive influence.
There is until another part of all true consecration--besides living a pure and godly life; and besides doing all our daily work for Christ--we should also embrace every opportunity of doing good to others in Christ's name and for his sake.
There are needy and suffering ones all about us, and we are to do Christ's errands to these, performing for them the ministries of kindness and mercy--which Jesus would render, if he were here in person. There are weak and fainting ones about us who find life hard and who need sympathy and help. To all these we have errands of love! We should share their burdens and put strong, sustaining arms around them in their weakness.
A life for Christ must always be a life of love, of usefulness and of helpfulness. No true Christian lives for himself. We have our model in him who came "not to be ministered unto--but to minister." We need not wait for great opportunities -these come but rarely; the common days are full of opportunities for little kindnesses, thoughtfulnesses, and unselfishnesses, and in order to write bright records for ourselves, we have only to seize these and stretch out our hands to render the ministries to which God thus invites and calls us. Doing the thing which Christ himself would do if he were precisely in our place--that is the rule for Christian living.
Thus consecration becomes very real. It is living for God--day by day, hour by hour. It is nothing strained or unnatural; it does not wrench us out of our place, nor disturb our relationships, unless they are sinful. It is the simple living out in true devotion to Christ, in unquestioning obedience and in quiet faithfulness--the life he gives, in whatever sphere our lot may be cast.
