Life On The Highest Plane
It is a Life Conformed to God's Perfect Pattern
But the spiritual man knows also that the redemption of the body is not yet completed and will not be until the Lord comes again when this body of humiliation will be exchanged for one glorified even as Christ's is glorified now (Romans 8:23; Phil. 3:20-21). He knows further that the flesh is still entrenched within him even though he is not now in the sphere of the flesh and that he is still environed by a hostile, hateful world.
Romans 8:10, "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness."
John 17:15, 18, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world."
So he understands the need of constant vigilance over the body that it may be kept under the dominating control of the Holy Spirit lest he yield to any of the appetites, passions and lusts of the flesh or be conformed to the fashions and foibles of the world. The spiritual man is willing for any work of the Holy Spirit within him in the way of discipline that will keep the body under and enable him to possess it in honor and sanctification.
(3) The spiritual man abounds in joy.
John 15:11, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
(4) The spiritual man abounds in peace.
Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."
(5) The spiritual man abounds in thankfulness.
Ephesians 5:20, "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(6) The spiritual man abounds in knowledge.
1 Corinthians 1:5, "That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge."
(7) The spiritual man abounds in love.
Phil. 1:9, "And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment."
The more the spiritual man abounds in the riches of God's grace the more unsearchable and exhaustless he finds them to be so that there exists in his life a strange but joyous paradox - that of always being satisfied in Christ and yet always unsatisfied. The spiritual man never stops growing because he is always reaching upward to that still higher height that is just beyond. It was this passionate upreaching toward Christ in the heart of the apostle Paul that inspired those words to the Christians at Philippi.
Phil. 3:12-14, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
The second mark of life lived on the highest plane is - it is an overcoming life. Having taken his position by faith in the heavenlies in Christ the spiritual man lives in the atmosphere of triumph which prevails there. The spiritual man is on top of his difficulties; he is the conqueror not the conquered; the victor not the vanquished. His identification with Jesus Christ in the victory over sin and satan is a reality to him and he looks upon satan as an already defeated foe and treats him accordingly and reckons upon his own death to sin, to self and to the world.
Romans 8:37, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us."
1 John 5:4, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
The spiritual man aspires to such an overcoming life on earth as will win for him a share in the reigning life of Heaven.
Revelation 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
The third mark of life lived on the highest plane is - it is an overflowing life. The spiritual man has enough and to spar. He does not have to hoard his spiritual riches for he is the child of a King and knows that his Father is a royal Giver and has taught His child "that it is more blessed to give than to receive." He is assured that the more he gives the more he will receive. Out of his innermost being flow the rivers of living water to bring life more abundant to every life he touches.
John 7:38, "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water."
A life lived on the highest plane is a continuous miracle of God's grace.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with - "Carnal or Spiritual")
No comments:
Post a Comment