One very prominent truth in the word of God is the estrangement between the enlightened child of God, who walks in communion, and the world. There could be no greater proof of the moral darkness and ruin of the world than that it is absolutely impossible for the child of God to be conformed to this world and to the image of Christ at the same time. It is either one or the other. This truth is found in both the Old Testament and in the New. A noted instance from the Old Testament is referred to in Hebrews 11:24-26. And a like example is found in i John 2:15-17.

One of the first effects of the truth is to wean the heart from the world by making Christ precious to it. Men of necessity set their minds and hearts on what is to them of most worth, or which appeals to them the strongest, and since everything that pertains to this life has a relative value, most any thing can possess the heart, according to each person's environments. By the new birth, God changes the purposes of the heart, giving a new object for our affections. He lessens the value of all there is here by presenting something of greater value. Surely no one will continue to seek that which to them has no more value by reason of what they have now found of so much greater worth! By revealing Him to us as our Saviour, the Scriptures set Christ before our souls in such a way that He supplants all other objects. He is made so precious to the soul that the value of other things is taken away. That is the way we are sanctified through the truth, as mentioned in John 17:17. The truth operating in the soul makes Christ precious, and as a necessary consequence, takes away the charm of this world.

The preciousness of Christ is to those that believe. In i Peter 2:6 the Lord Jesus is set forth as the precious chief cornerstone, and in verse 7 it is "unto you therefore who believe is the preciousness." (J. N. D's. translation.) There is no higher experience for the child of God than the preciousness of Christ, and in consequence, to have the heart set free from the things which are highly esteemed in this world. May God in that grace which is all His own make these things real to our souls and characteristic of our lives. F. H. J.