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Living A Victorious Life By Dying To Self
Out of discouragement and defeat they have come into
victory.
Out of weakness and weariness they have been made
strong.
Out of ineffectiveness and apparent uselessness they have
become efficient and enthusiastic.
The pattern seems to be: self-centeredness, self-effort,
increasing inner dissatisfaction and outer discouragement, a temptation to give
it all up because there is no better way.
And then they find the Spirit of God to be their
strength, their guide, their confidence and companion - in word, their life.
The crisis of the deeper life is the key that unlocks the
secret of transformation. It is the beginning of the exchanged life.
What is the exchanged life? Really, it
is not some thing: it is some One.
It is the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ made real
and rewarding by the Holy Spirit.
There is no more glorious reality in the entire world. It
is life with a capital L.
It is new life for old. It is rejoicing for weariness,
and radiance for dreariness.
It is strength for weakness, and steadiness for
uncertainty.
It is triumph even through tears, and tenderness of heart
instead of touchiness.
Adjectives can be multiplied to describe it: abundant, overflowing, overcoming,
all-pervading, satisfying, joyous, victorious; and each is but one aspect
of a life that can be experienced but not fully explained.
Said the Savior: “I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
We find newness of life in Christ by receiving Him as our
own Savior from the penalty of sin.
Abundance of that life we find by surrendering self and
drawing on the unfailing resources of the Almighty.
There is life; and
then there is life more abundant. This
is the exchanged life.
The pattern of their experiences is much the same.
They had believed on the Savior, yet they were burdened
and bewildered, unfaithful and unfruitful, always yearning for a better way and
never achieving by their efforts a better life.
Then they came to a crisis of utter heart surrender to
the Savior, a meeting with Him in the innermost depths of their spirit; and
they found the Holy Spirit to be an unfailing fountain of life and refreshment.
Thereafter, life was never again the same.
In one way or another they had learned what
the apostle Paul had testified: “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.”
New life had been exchanged for old.
Their testimony to the reality of the joy and power of the Spirit-filled life is unanimous.
Nowhere in Scriptures are we taught to seek
experience.
Rather, the Word says, “Seek ye the Lord.”
It is Jesus who satisfies the longing soul.
He is the secret of the exchanged life!
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