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It is what it is,
and not what is sometimes reputed to be.

Water remains the life liquid, however polluted;
and pollution is not water.

So with Christian life: it is the essence, kernel and quintessence of life. Propagandising pollutants which bear the same name, are mere playthings, toying with words.

Let us versify a little, to cover the case in some detail.

The Christian Life ?

Not a career of psychic sparks,
existential tension-relief,
boy-scout escapades, crusades to satisfy conscience,
performed in hope, worked in self-righteousness,
nor an exercise in mere social gentilities,
a convenient spouse-seeking location,
or an insurance against worse things,
that may come,
and which should therefore be avoided:
not an opportunity for get-togethers,
or a necessary option chosen to preserve civilisation.

It won't. That's going anyway, and a permanent creation of beauty will replace it, when the pilgrimage is past, the test concluded, the trek over.

The CHRISTIAN LIFE !

It is a platform of truth
for walking with divinely accorded vitality,

a bridge of blood
for linking perfection to sinners;

a life from God
hewn out of rock
that is sure, steadfast,
authentic...

a spring in flesh
a wing for flight in the heavenly places,
where the knowledge of God
is like light from the sun.

It's a healing, revealing
replacement of sick night
with splendid day,
a gift by grace to anyone in the human race

whose Saviour out of sin
is Jesus Christ,

Who died with it and for it
for all who partake of His salvation.

It's a lien on the resurrection of the body,
fostered by divine power,

it's back to base, to spiritual normalcy,
to knowing divinely produced

rules of life,
and, being bought by blood,

keeping them in love.

It's refreshing, hatred of evil,
ravishment with truth...
being a child of God and
looking like it,
sounding like it,
walking like it,
talking like it:
since that's what you then are.

It's an exercise in authenticity
with its Author,
being perpetually polished with pardon,

travail in holiness
with the God of grace,
a rest in reality
with the Creator,
an exuberance of peace
inside the domain of the purifier,
who is Himself so pure
that physical light almost seems blighted
by comparison.

It's accord with the Almighty
produced from the Cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
gain from that loss,
and it's a moving in mercy,
both given and used for others,
in sympathetic and swift accord
with the living,
physically resurrected
Director of operations,
Jesus Christ the Righteous.

It's vitality associated with a joy so exquisite-
since His is eternal life to give, and He
continually gives -
so unerodable, unpollutable,
that its ultimacy is manifest.

It's a life in love
with a love of life
because the Source of Life
enshrined in flesh as Jesus Christ
has it in His gift
and has given it
to you
to me -
to whomever He pleases,
who comes in faith to Him,

operationally, functionally and truly.

It's knowing it, going with it,
This life that is His, which proceeds from Him,
Believing God, receiving God,
being completed in the format of creation,
reformulated, regenerated,
in the personal presence of your Redeemer:
price paid, inheritance gained,
production eternalised
in the awesome magnificence
of God manifested in His Son.

It's a canoe trip down the river of peace,
so still it speaks wonder,
though at times life is so turbulent
it needs massive aid,
provocative to the flesh,
before the reality calms the waves
and cleanses the heart.

It is a grand savouring granted to the saints,
assembled in heaven,
and a fragrance to those through whom
it is lived on this earth:
till the time come
and the LORD RETURNS,
He in whom His saints revel, relishing
His eternal reality,
and the reality which is love, truth and peace,
flowing from His person and presence,
like almighty streams.

It is lived here
till the call comes
or the Lord returns,
whichever comes sooner.

It is light in its beauty
without dazzlement,
brilliance in its wonder
without scorning or scorching,
wholesomeness without boredom
rightness without self-righteousness,
advance by grace,
guidance without being robots.

It carries the tang of truth
and is filled with praise,
for what else can you do
but praise someone like that.

It is filial but not familiar,
laborious but ever secure,
a tryst with Christ,
a pathway in the pastures of God.

It's worship instead of woe.
admiration of what is admirable,
detestation of what is detestable,
soundness in spiritual salubrity
and strength amid routine,
enablement amid the
challenges of the impossible.

It's faith with an object
when the object is God.

It's faith with a subject
subjected to truth,
and loving it,
because the Lord Himself is loved,
and He is truth:
and the subject is you... who believe,
faith the conduit of calm,
the pathway of health,
the avenue of access.

It is mountains of righteousness
reached through deep valleys of challenge,
mountains that do not change,
which may be climbed with delight.

It's a path through obstructions:
you walk on it,
at times run on it,
and at other times
move the obstructive mountains
that men and the world make,
far out of the way,
because they threaten to stop
your walk in the ways of God.

It is alliance with God,
formulated in heaven,
given by grace of the Gospel,
the everlasting gospel of grace
that rises like the perpetual mountains,
gleaming with snow on their summits,
girding them with the soft yet candid whiteness of truth,
capping them in the blazing brilliance of the sun
of life that is eternal, and so personal,
that personality is mere flavour to its intensity.

It is marching for the Almighty,
walking with your Lord,
when your Lord is
the eternal word of God,
who became flesh,
to be lifted up
like carrion on the Cross,
caught by sin as in an automobile accident,
and catching sin as in baseball, both:
and both with knowledge and with plan -
and so draw all men to Him.

It's being drawn and coming,
it's being received and sent,
it's going in and out
with that Shepherd
who gave His life for the sheep,
and finding pasture.

It's growing in grace and knowledge of God,

it's sowing the word of God in compassion,

it's receiving and delightedly
conforming to the fashion
of heavenly things
while yet on earth;
and it's being with Christ,
which is far better
both here and hereafter.

It's awaiting His return
more than necessary food.

It's loving His kingdom
the Kingdom of Heaven,
being a citizen of that
heavenly commonwealth.

It's living in the Temple of Truth
with Jesus Christ your High Priest.

It's working in the School for the Saints -
and all God's people are saints -
with Truth Resplendent
shining like the sun on your way,

shining personally, practically,
objectively.

It's loving the written word of God,
since it displays the mind of Christ your Saviour

and bathing in it daily,
watching at His gates
as day begins, as light dawns,
for His light is better than day,
and His lovingkindness is better than life.

It's knowing the end,

the everlasting inheritance
from the One who has already died,
and resuming life,
shared this inheritance with you.

It's being a friend of God.