GROWING IN HIM by S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 11.

GROWING IN HIM.

By S.

Growth and fruit-bearing are the characteristics of the true Christian; and the fruit is a sure result of the growth. God has furnished all the requisites in unstinted quantity; but the responsibility for the growth and the fruit rests upon us, and they are the result of our choice.

The right way is faithfully pointed out; the right food is set before us; and then our responsibility begins. The Lord’s instruction to us through Peter is this: “Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings [the paths which we are to avoid], as new-born babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation.” 1 Peter 2:1, 2. That spiritual milk is the Word of God in its own purity. Partaking of that, growth is as certain as that water seeks its level; as much a fact as that the sun shines and men live. It is a result as sure as the melting of ice by heat or the congelation of water by cold. We feed upon the Word and we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18. We neglect it and feed upon the food of our fleshly desires, and our souls shrivel and our hearts grow cold toward God and all His purposes. And such, Inspiration tells us, “are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.” Such a spring is a hollow promise; and such a mist deposits no moisture and blinds the eyes of those who should be rejoicing in the light.

Our material body depends for sustenance upon the food apportioned to it. Our soul must live and grow by the spiritual food suited to its necessities. There is life in the Word, and God designs that we feed upon that and receive that life. He knows better than we, but He will not compel us to go other than the way of our own choice.

God likens His children to stones in His temple; but He calls such “living stones.” There is no place in the plans of God for anything that has not life. Death came as the result of sin. Sin cursed the earth as well as those upon it, and we see death in what we term “inanimate nature” as well as in the human being. It is around us and beneath us, because we are in the land of the enemy, surrounded by the subjects of the king of sin. When the curse is removed, life will throb through every atom of the handiwork of God, even as through redeemed humanity. So God does not use dead things to represent those whom His renewing life has vivified. Christ was a “tried stone,” a “living stone.” He bore the cruel weight of sin, but it did not crush Him. He was tried and found true. The stone upon which the weight of the temple rests must be able to bear that weight—it must not crumble. A dead stone will not stand the test; it will crumble to powder and the building will fall.

Christ not only stood that test, but He has made it possible for every one who will be His to stand with Him every test that will come; and whether we stand or whether we crumble depends upon whether we choose to stand in the strength of Christ or to stand in our own frailty.

The ability to bear burdens in the cause of Christ is a precious gift, and He who has that gift will not consider work a hardship. The food he has taken has made him strong for the burden, has produced for him living tissue for the load he is to bear. Let us then eat of that spiritual food and drink of that spiritual drink, that we may grow and lift and bear as God designed we should. S.