Nothing seemed to be a greater
burden on the heart of the apostle Paul than to have the believers lay hold of
their privileges in Christ. We know that Christ has died for us, but this does
not have the power over us as it ought to have. In addition, we are risen with
Him; we are seated "together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"
(Eph. 2:6) within the veil. The question is whether we are realizing this.
The secret of everything is found
in the truth, "You are complete in Him" (Col. 2:10). Christ Himself
said, "At that day you shall know that I am in My Father and you in
Me" (John 14:20). But what is that? and where is Christ now? In heaven.
Then I am there too, and my affections should be there also. My hope is to be
thoroughly identified with Him. The portion I have is what He has in the glory,
and all my associations are with Himself. He is in heaven, and I am there too
in spirit, and He will soon bring me there in fact.
Where did Paul see Christ? Not on
earth, for long after Christ had left the earth Paul was a persecutor. But he
saw Him in heavenly glory. His only knowledge of Christ at all was of a Christ
in heaven. Christ’s course on earth he might learn. But the revelation of
Christ that brought Paul’s soul into the presence of God in the power of an accomplished
redemption was the revelation of Christ in heaven and in glory.
It was this that ruled the
apostle’s affections, as he says, "that I may win Christ" (Phil.
3:8). His object was to "bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor.
15:49). His mind was full of it. The Holy Spirit has come down to bring all
these things to our remembrance.
What is the practical consequence
of all this? Why, if the glory He has is mine, and I am going on after Him,
then all the world is but dross and dung in my esteem. This will be faith’s
estimate of everything in the world, when Christ is filling the heart’s
affections, and when the soul is pressing on after Him in the certain hope of
being forever with Him. One moment’s real apprehension of Christ in the glory
is sufficient to dim the brightness and glitter of every earthly thing; but the
soul must be occupied alone with Christ for this.
If our affections and desires are
lingering on earth, or stopping short of a glorified Christ in heaven, as the
One in whom our life is hid, and to whom we are presently to be conformed in
glory, we shall find soon that earthly things are something more than dross and
dung. Leave a stone on the ground for a time and you will find that it will
gradually sink into it. And our hearts, if they are not practically in heaven
with Christ, will soon become attached to earthly things.
There is a constant tendency in
earthly things to press down the affections. Duties are more apt to lead away
the soul from God than open sin. Many a Christian has been ensnared by duties,
whose heart would have shrunk from open sin. But we have only one duty in all
the varying circumstances of life—to serve Christ. And we should remember that
if things on earth are dark and the heart is tested in journeying through the
world, all on the side of God is bright. "Wherefore leaving the word of
the beginning of Christ, let us go on to what belongs to full growth"
(Heb. 6:1).