CHRISTIANITY: REALITY OR THEORY
By Francis Bay
FRANCIS BAY
(Montrose, Colo.) “EXCEPT, a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” Satan, by his sophistry, deceived man, and thereby gained the opportunity to work in human flesh. We are born into this corrupt human flesh. But God leaves no one without witness of His nature and character. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” We are born into sinful flesh, and all along our course there are the two elements in the “great controversy” held before us: truth, purity, righteousness, love, God; and discord, hatred, strife, sin, Satan. God has made no promise to man which He is not able to fulfill. He has made no promise which He is not willing to fulfill. In view of this fact, how many real, practical Christians are there to-day as compared with theoretical ones? We are born into sinful flesh; but it is within the reach of every one, through Christ, to be born again into the kingdom of heaven, by the Spirit to become sons of God. What! sons of God? “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Do I believe in Christ? Am I a child of God in reality? And will that effect any change in my life? “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. . . . Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” And I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and overcome the world by the Spirit of the Father, which was in Him. Then by His Spirit He makes me a child of God, and gives me power to overcome the world; not in theory, but in reality, in my body, soul, and spirit. Oh, the reality of the promises of God! the breadth and depth and height, and cleansing power of those promises! “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The Son of God with us! Do I believe that? Is His presence manifested in my life? Is it a real, vital truth, or is it simply theory? “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” Does God indeed love His people? does He love me as He does His own Son?—Yes. Wondrous thought! Can I accept that in reality, and abide in sin? Can one atom of my being be subject to sin, and I in truth be a child of God, and abide in His love? “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he can not sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.” “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” Ah! where, then, are the children of God? Where are the pure ones? Where are the overcomers of this world? Is Christianity reality or theory? Have I put on Christ? Am I crucified to the world? Have I the power of the Holy Ghost? Do I believe that God is true, and that He means just what He has said? or have I only professed to believe? Am I holy; as He is holy?