Practical Results

True Christian faith is demonstrated through actions reflecting Christ's holiness.

Believers are called to live humbly, forgive others, and serve God, avoiding worldly pursuits. By surrendering to God’s guidance, Christians grow in Christlikeness, becoming a testimony to His transformative power and love.

If all that has been said about the life hid with Christ in God is true, it should show in our daily lives.

Those who enjoy it should be a "peculiar people, zealous of good works." My son at college once wrote to a friend that Christians must be God's witnesses. The world won't read the Bible, but they will read our lives. Their belief in our religion depends on the report our lives give. As we all know, this is an age of facts. Inquiries are shifting from theories to realities.

If our religion is to make any headway, it must be proved to be more than a theory. We must show, to our age's critical minds, the grand facts of lives transformed by God's mighty power working in us to do His will. "Show us 'forms of life,' say the scientists, and we will be convinced. When the Church presents to them, in all its members, a holy life, their last stronghold will be conquered." I wish, before closing my book, to speak very solemnly of the fruits of a life of faith, such as I have been describing.

I believe they are necessary. I urge my readers to feel their duty to walk worthy of their high calling.

I would speak to some of you, as personal friends. I am sure that, through this book, a mutual longing has grown in your hearts, as it has in mine. We should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. As a friend, I may speak plainly to friends. Please pardon me if I discuss some vital details of life and character. They are important for true Christian growth.

The standard of holy living among Christians is low. Any real devotion in life and walk surprises, and often disapproves, many in the Church. Most professed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are unlike Him. An outside observer would see little harmony between them.

But we, who have heard God's call to total devotion and trust, must do differently. We must come out from the world and be separate, and must not be conformed to it in our characters nor in our purposes.

We must no longer share in its spirit or its ways.

Our talk must be in Heaven. We must seek things above, where Christ sits at God's right hand. We must walk through the world as Christ walked. We must have the mind that was in Him.

As pilgrims and strangers we must abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. As good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we must avoid the world's affairs as much as possible. This is to please Him who chose us to be soldiers.

We must abstain from all appearance of evil. We must be kind and forgiving to each other. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. We must not resent injuries or unkindness. Instead, we should return good for evil and turn the other cheek to those who hurt us. We must take always the lowest place among our fellowmen; and seek not our own honor, but the honor of others. We must be gentle, and meek, and yielding; not standing up for our own rights, but for the rights of others. All that we do must be done for the glory of God. In summary, since He who called us is holy, we must be holy in our behavior. It is written, "Be you holy, for I am holy."”

Now, dear friends, this is all very practical. It surely means a life very different from most professors' lives. It means that we do really and absolutely turn our backs on self, and on self’s motives and self’s aims. We are a peculiar people, both to God and the world. Our Christ like lives and words will show that we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not of the world, even as He was not of the world. We shall no longer feel that our money is our own, but the Lord’s, to be used in His service. We cannot use our energies only to seek worldly things. If we first seek God's kingdom and His righteousness, we will have what we need.

We will be forbidden to seek high places or worldly gains. We shall not be permitted to be conformed to the world in our ways of thinking or of living. We will have no desire to take part in the world's silly distractions. We should love heavenly things, not earthly ones. We will not serve ourselves, but our Lord. We will perform our duties better than ever. We will work "not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart."”

Clear standard of Christian life, we may not recognize His voice due to ignorance. So, I want to be very plain and definite in my statements. I have noticed that, where there is a faithful following of the Lord in a consecrated soul, several things follow, sooner or later. Over time, meekness and quietness of spirit become the daily life. There is a submissive acceptance of God's will, as it comes in the daily events.

There is also a pliability in God's hands to do or suffer His will. Next, there should be sweetness under provocation, calmness amid chaos, and yieldingness to others' wishes. There is an insensibility to slights and an absence of worry. Fear and care vanish. All these, and many other similar graces, are the natural result of that inward life which is hid with Christ in God.

As for their habits: We always see such Christians, sooner or later, giving themselves to some work for God and their fellowmen. They are willing to spend and be spent in the Master’s service. They become indifferent to their houses' furniture and their living style. They make all personal adornment secondary to the things of God.

The voice is dedicated to God, to talk and sing for Him. The purse is placed at His disposal. The pen is dedicated to write for Him, the lips to speak for Him, the hands and the feet to do His bidding. Year after year, such Christians grow more unworldly and heavenly-minded. They become more like Christ.

Their faces show a beautiful, divine life within them. All who look at them know they live with and abide in God.

I am sure you have each felt some Divine hints. They foreshadow the life I now describe. Have you not begun to feel, deep in your soul, the voice of God speaking to you about these things? Has it not been a pain and a distress to you of late to discover how much is wrong in your life? Hasn't your soul been troubled by doubt about some habits you once indulged in? Have you not begun to feel uneasy with some habits? Do you wish you could change them? Have not paths of devotedness and of service begun to open out before you, with the longing thought, “Oh that I could walk in them”?

All your longings, doubts, and distress are the Good Shepherd's voice. It seeks to call you away from all that is against His will. Oh! Let me entreat you not to turn away from His gentle pleadings. You little know the secret paths He means to lead you to by these very steps. You don't know the great blessings that lie at their end. If you did, you would eagerly obey all His requirements. You can reach the heights of Christian perfection. To do so, you must follow the Guide who will lead you there. He reveals your way one step at a time, through your daily life. He asks only that you yield to His guidance.

If you are convinced of any sin, it is the voice of your Lord. Surrender it at once to His bidding.

Rejoice that He has begun to lead and guide you.

Be completely soft in His wise hands. Go where He entices you. Turn away from all that makes you shrink. Obey Him perfectly. He will lead you swiftly and easily to a wonderful life of conformity to Himself. It will be a testimony to all around you, beyond what you will ever know.

I knew a soul who surrendered to follow the Lord wherever He led her. In three months, she went from deep despair to a blessed union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In her darkness, she consecrated herself to the Lord. She surrendered her will to Him. She wanted Him to work in her, to do His good pleasure. He began to speak to her by His Spirit in her heart. He suggested small acts of service for Him. He called her away from all un-Christ ways.

She recognized His voice. She feared only disobeying Him. So, she followed Him, yielding to each of His requests, wherever He led her. He led her on, day by day. He conformed her to His will. Her life became a testimony to those around her. Even some who opposed and disbelieved were forced to admit that it was of God. They were won to a similar surrender.

After three short months of this faithful following, it came to pass. So swiftly had she gone that her Lord was able to reveal some of His deepest secrets of love to her wondering soul? He fulfilled the promise of ( Acts 1:5) “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” baptising her with the Holy Ghost.

Do you think she has ever regretted fully following Him? Or that anything but joy fills her heart? She is grateful for the path that brought her to this amazing place. Some of those steps were difficult at the time, but she doesn't regret them. If you want a blessing, give yourself completely to the Divine Master, just like she did. Don't hold back from any surrender, He asks of you .

The perfect way is hard to flesh. It is not hard to love. If you were sick and in need of God, how swiftly would you move? Surely, you can trust Him! Some may call for things of little worth to you. They may seem unworthy of the Lord's attention. Remember, He sees not as man sees, what is small to you may be, in His eyes, the key to the deepest thing. To shape you to His will, He must have you soft. This flexibility is more quickly reached by yielding in small things than in greater ones. Your one great desire is to follow Him fully; canst thou not say then a continual “Yes, Lord!” to all His sweet commands, small or great, and trust Him to lead you by the shortest road to your fullest Blessedness?

My dear friend, this, and nothing less than this, is what thy consecration meant, whether you knew it or not. It meant inevitable obedience. It meant that the will of your God was henceforth to be your will under all circumstances and at all times. It meant that, from then on, you gave up your freedom. You surrendered completely to your Lord's control. It meant an hour of following Him, wherever He led you. No dreams of turning back. Now, I ask you to keep your word. Let everything else go. Live, in daily life, the Divine life within you. You are united to your Lord by a wondrous tie. So, walk as He walked. Show the world His power to save by letting Him save you completely. You need not fear to consent to this, for He is your Saviour, and His power is to do it all. He is not asking you, in your weakness, to do it. He only asks you to yield to Him. Then, He will use His power to make you want to do it and to do it. Your job is to yield yourself. His is to work. He will never give you a command without giving you the power to obey it.

Do not worry about tomorrow. Trust your loving Lord. He promised to lead His sheep on a safe and easy path. Take each onward step as He makes it plain to you. Bring all your life in each of its details to Him to regulate and guide. Follow gladly and quickly the sweet suggestions of His Spirit in your soul. And, day by day, you will find Him. He will bring you more into conformity with His will in all things. He will, as you can bear it, shape you. Then, you will be a vessel of His honor, sanctified and ready for every good work. You will have the joy of being a letter of Christ, known and read by all.

Your light will shine so brightly that, seeing your good works, men will glorify your Father in Heaven, not you.

We are predestined to be “conformed to the image” of God’s Son. This means, of course, not a likeness of bodily presence, but a likeness of character and nature. It means a similarity of thought, of feeling, of desire, of loves, of hates. It means we should think and act, as Christ would, under our circumstances.

A little girl was once questioned what it meant to be a Christian. She replied, “It means to be just what Christ would be, if He was a little girl and lived in my house.” Th e secret of Christ's life was His selfless love for others. If we are like Him, this will be our secret too. He saved others, but Himself He could not save. He "pleased not Himself." So, we "not to please ourselves." Instead, we should please our neighbor, if it is for his good.

A thoughtful Hindu, who recently visited England and America to study Christianity, said, "What Christians need is a bit more of Christ's Christianity, and a bit less of man's." Man's Christianity teaches sacrifice to save oursel ves. Christ's Christianity teaches sacrifice to save others. Man’s Christianity produces the fruitless selfishness of too much of our religion. Christ's Christianity produces a blessed unselfishness. It comes from lives poured out for others, as was His. In short, our book teaches one thing: we are to be Christ like Christians. And all our experiences amount to nothing if they do not produce this result. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the w ill of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mathew 7:21)