We Stoop That We May Conquer
By M. C. W.
BRAVE as may be the true Christian, if he wisely fights he hides in God. He so gives himself to God that the Lord becomes responsible for all. The Christian may be slain, he may suffer persecution, but he is in God still, and even if he die, in the last day the Lord will raise him up. We Stoop That We May Conquer.—The only way to conquer sin, to rise above passion’s power, to defeat the devil, is to submit to the will of God. The Christian, from a worldly standpoint, stoops, or demeans himself. But whatever the world thinks, he must thus “stoop” that he may rise; or, in other words, “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” God dwells with the humble of heart. Humility.—Humility is the condition of being humble, a modest sense of one’s own merit. In the eyes of the world it is coming down. In reality it is the square, honest recognition and acknowledgment that you are down. Sin is what brings man down. Confessing that sin does not bring him lower. If it be true confession, it is separation from sin. Christ came to save sinners; and true humility simply puts a man where he has a sense of his true condition and realizes his need. Never mind how low that condition is, or how the world may look upon your recognition of it, Christ is in the very lowest human condition, that he may lift up. God will care for the exaltation; let us be humble. The Spirit and Its Work.—“God is spirit,” or a spiritual Being. John 4:24, R. V., margin. He has manifested his power through his Holy Spirit. It was by his Spirit that creation in the beginning was brought forth. Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; Ps. 33:6. It is by the same Spirit that recreation takes place. Ps. 104:30. While we are said to be begotten of God, and begotten of the Word, we are born of the Spirit into a new life. John 3:3–5. The word of God came through his Spirit (2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Peter 1:21), and his Spirit and life are therefore in his word (Heb. 4:12; John 6:63). The Spirit of God rested upon Jesus, the Anointed of God, without measure, and by its power he wrought his mighty miracles. Luke 4:18; John 3:34; Matt. 12:28. It is by the Spirit of God that we receive the love of God (Rom. 5:5); and “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ [which is the same as the Spirit of God], he is none of his.” Rom. 8:9. In fact, all blessings come by the Spirit, even as they all come through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the life and power of God manifest in all creation. M. C. W.