Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (7)

 

 

“Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.”

 

There are many enigmas in Jesus Christ, things that are mysteries, which we may not understand yet which we may experience. Paul writes to Timothy that he is to be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1), and to the Ephesians that they are to be “strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (Eph. 6:10). Yet, Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9), and we know that the treasure of Christ is ours in our “earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Cor. 4:7).

 

So we are strong, and we are also weak. Our strength is Christ, it is always Christ. We need not hide our weakness, our frailty, for His glory is manifested through it. Indeed, to pretend to be something we are not would be to deny Jesus Christ.

 

Christ is not only our wisdom, sanctification, righteousness, and redemption, He is our strength – our everything (1Cor. 1:30 – 31). We may put it, “Yet not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20).

 

We are indeed “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16), always remembering that “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

 

When I confess that my spiritual state here is frail and poor, I mean that Christ is God and I am not. I mean that I must always abide in the Vine and that without Him I can do nothing, absolutely nothing (John 15:1 – 5). I mean that I need Him desperately, that He must be the Air that I breathe, the Water I drink, the Wine I enjoy, the Bread I eat, the Light by which I live and see all things, the Raiment I wear, the House I live in.

 

I mean that after knowing Him (in some measure) for 60 years, that I need Him more than ever, that I desire to do nothing independently of Him, and that I want to live every day for His glory and the blessing of others. I mean that I cannot possibly know my true spiritual condition, other than in Jesus Christ that condition is righteous, holy, glorious, and perfected in Him…always in Him. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony, which is all Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:11).

 

This is why Calvary’s Anthem means so much to me, I began true Life in the Cross, I will conclude this life in the Cross, I will sing of the Cross in eternity. The Lamb of the Cross will ever be the Light by which I live, and He is the Light which shines brighter and brighter until that perfect Day (Pro. 4:18).

 

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy – laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28 – 30).