Christianity continued
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the
bent , of \ regeneration
William James, his "live option"
by imitating the life of Jesus. Man is saved through faith in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Here was God doing something for man. And this something was so infinitely great and perfect that man dare not add to it or neglect to accept it as the sole price for his sin. The Bible says: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.” Man's responsibility We have just touched the last phase of this thing called Christianity. It is man’s responsibility. Now I realize that it is a popular thing to hold the philos ophy of "I do my best and what more can God expect of me?” Most of us, even though we out wardly hold this philosophy, will candidly admit it's a pretty thin smoke screen. Suppose we applied it to other areas of life. I develop a cancer on the lip. I go to a leading cancer expert like Dr. Ralph Byron, chief of surgeons at California’s world-famous City of Hope. His verdict: an immediate operation. I go home to think about it. Is an operation really necessary? I’m really not in pain. The spot is so little few people will ever notice it. Should it get worse in the future immediate action can be taken. From my thoughts on the matter I decide on a practical course of action. I’m going to start taking care of my body. I’ll get plenty of sleep. I’ll get the best dietitian in the city to work out a healthy, body-building diet rich in vitamins and minerals. I’ll get plenty of fresh air • and sunshine and the proper amount of exercise. I’m confident now that since I’m doing the very best I know how, that everything will come out all right. And underneath, the cancer spreads until death swiftly strikes. You say, "How stupid. You knew you were in trouble, you went to an expert for confirmation and prescription. And then you deliberately set about to effect your own cure.” i I don’t think we need push the point further. You and I know that there are absolute laws that work day and night for all time, and our coming along at one small pin-point in the vastness of time and attempting to change these laws is nothing short of sheer stupidity. When God prescribed the way to come to Himself it became an absolute law. We have the option of obeying Him, but we do not
If Jesus Christ is to regenerate me, what is the problem He is up against? I have a heredity I had no say in; I am not holy, nor likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is to tell me I must be holy, His teaching plants despair. But if Jesus Christ is a regenerator, One Who can put into me His own heredity of holiness, then I begin to see what He is driving at when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the hereditary disposi tion that was in Himself, and all the stand ards He gives are based on that disposition: His teaching is fo r the life H e puts in. The moral transaction on my part is agreement with God’s verdict on sin in the cross of Jesus. The New Testament teaching about regen eration is that when a man is struck by a sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God, "until Christ be formed in you.” The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put into me a new disposition whereby I can live a totally new life. When I reach the frontier of need and know my limitations, Jesus says — "Blessed are you.” But I have to get there. God cannot put into me, a responsible moral being, the disposition that was in Jesus Christ unless I am conscious I need it. Just as the disposition of sin entered into the human race by one man, so the Holy Spirit entered the human race by another Man; and redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin and through Jesus Christ can receive an unsullied heredity, viz., the Holy Spirit. (Included in "M y U t most fo r His H ighest ,” Dodd, Mead & Co., N ew Y o rk .) — Oswald Chambers
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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