Winter
1993
Making Him King
Beulah Skinner
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God" 2 Cor 7:1.
What victory there is when He becomes King of our lives,
What responsibility is lifted from our shoulders!
We may have labored for years and failed, wrestling with
our weaknesses and our problems. But, when He comes in and
rules, He breathes His life into us and causes us to step
out of the "Why?" of our human reasonings and vain
imaginations. Nothing can withstand the power of His indwelling
presence that comes through the indwelling Holy Spirit, for
we are to be overcome by Christ Jesus.
We cannot earn the gift of His life; He brings it. He springs
up within us: "Because I live, you shall live also."
The power to "become" is in recognizing that in
ourselves, we can never become. It is only as He "becomes"
in us. What a difference there is between trying to live the
Christian life by our own strength, and in letting the Christ
of eternity live out His life within us, hour by hour.
There is no longer any room within us for self-expression,
or self-will. He is to become the center of all and everything
must adjust to His sovereign will; and then our bodies will
indeed become His temple. We have been bought at a terrific
cost: the precious blood of Jesus, that we may glorify Christ
in our bodies and our spirits. We are to look to Him alone,
for infinite resources are at His disposal in our behalf.
Suffering is the heart of the curriculum in "The School
of Obedience" and is for our education, earthly and heavenly.
At times suffering may seem purposeless. Its value, the disciplining
of our mind, and the formation of the character and likeness
of our blessed Jesus within us, these daily "little"
crosses enable us to receive His life. Thus we rise above
the circumstances, letting Him reign, bearing patiently all
seeming inconveniences.
Surely, it is to be Himself in full control of our lives
and destiny, all and in all. Jesus died for me, and in turn,
He expects me to die for the brethren.
"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our body" 2 Cor 4:10.