The Inward Experience of Christ By James M. Campbell The Christ who lived In Palestine upward of eighteen hundred years ago lives in the world today. He has direct and constant access to the spirit of man, touching sin-stricken souls with His healing power; quickening dead souls by the inbreathing of His life-giving Spirit; combating, defeating, expelling the slow death which has crept over the body of humanity. In all His activities within the soul His seeking and saving love is manifest. The eternal love outwardly expressed in the cross is inwardly expressed In His tireless effort to make His great salvation an actuality in human experience. The four Evangelists have given the record of His outward life; those alone, who know Him, not after the flesh but after the spirit, can give the record of His never-ending activity within the inner sphere of the spiritual nature of man. Of the two hemispheres of truth which constitute the whole gospel - the work of Christ for us, and the work of Christ in us, the latter often suffers a well-nigh total eclipse. Many think almost exclusively of what Christ has done for them, and overlook what He is doing in them; they look at redemption upon the divine side as a finished work, and fail to look at It upon the human side as a continuous work; they are so much taken up with the ideal of Christ dying upon the cross for their offenses as almost to forget that He is living in their hearts to guide, to inspire, to bless, to save. Before Christian experience can be rounded out to completeness the Godward and manward sides of Christs work must be embraced in a comprehensive faith; the work of Christ in its entireness must be brought within the inner sphere of personal consciousness; the outward Christ of history must become the Christ of inward experience; the dead Christ of Calvary must become the living Christ of the present; the Christ embalmed in a book must dwell and reign within the heart. It is not Christ upon the cross, nor Christ within the Bible, nor Christ in heaven that saves; but Christ deeply hidden in the inmost spirit; Christ constantly present in the life; Christ the inspiration of every thought and word and deed. Christ in the soul and not Christ buried in a tomb, enshrined in a temple, or seated upon a throne is the lifes true Life. From: The Indwelling Christ. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 12:53:54 +0000
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