Life and walk of faith

‘As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.’ Colossians 2:6

Suggested Further Reading: 1 John 2:3–11

There are many Christians whose lives really are not consistent. I cannot understand this if they are walking in Christ; in fact, if a man could completely walk in Christ he would walk in perfect holiness. We hear an instance, perhaps, of a little shopkeeper who puffs and exaggerates as other shopkeepers do; he does not exactly tell a lie, but something very near it. Now I want to know whether that man was walking in Christ when he did that. If he had said to himself, ‘Now I am in Christ,’ do you think he would have done it? We hear of another who is constantly impatient, always troubled, fretting, mournful. I want to know whether that man is really walking in Christ as he walked at first, when he is doubting the goodness, the providence, the tenderness of God. Surely he is not. I have heard of hard-hearted professors who take a Christian brother by the throat with, ‘Pay me that thou owest.’ Do you think they are walking in Christ when they do that? We hear of others who, when their brothers have need, shut up the bowels of their compassion and are mean and stingy; are they walking in Christ when they do that? Why, if a man walks in Christ, then he acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Christ; he is the glass into which Christ looks; and then the image of Christ is reflected, and men say of that man, ‘He is like his Master; he lives in Christ.’ O dear brethren, if we live now as we did the first day we came to Christ, we should live very differently from what we do.

For meditation: Christ gave us a perfect example—in service (Mark 10:43–45; John 13:14–15), in kindness, forgiveness and love (Ephesians 4:32–5:2), and in suffering (1 Peter 2:21–23). Could you honestly encourage other Christians to imitate you, as you imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1)?

Sermon no. 483
7 December (1862)