Winter 1995

A Present Need
Everett Allen

Our Lord's desire is that we, His Body, should have a unity with Christ in which He has fully become our Head. That He is the Source of our life, and that we no longer live according to the Adamic nature of man, seeking our own comfort and well being.

The ways in which our old nature can control our lives and still be considered His will for us can be very deceptive. If we live by the flesh, our old methods and values will become a way of life for us, and as a result, we will be found wanting in that day.

But if we will submit our lives to the cross and die to our old nature, we will, in resurrection, be placed by the Holy Spirit "in Christ." Here, we can submit ourselves to His Headship and guidance for the outworking of His purpose in these last days.

It is obvious that although we are saved and have submitted our lives to the Lord, we still face trials and testings. His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. Therefore, in seeking to help others, we must be careful to bring them to the "mind of Christ" rather than to the way we think it should be.

It is even written of Jesus,

"For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by
whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings" Heb 2:10.

Thus, only as we abide "in Him" can we rightly interpret His workings in our lives, and in the lives of others.