| The Hidden Life |
Chapter 2 |
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The inner spiritual life of a Christian is not subject to the changes that come upon his outer life. The body suffers; but if one is living in fellowship with Christ, one’s spiritual life is untouched by physical sufferings. The normal Christian life is one of constant, unchecked, uninterrupted progress. Unkindly conditions do not stunt it. Misfortunes do not mar it.
The inner growth of a Christian should be continuous. The renewal is said to be “day by day.” No day should be without its line. We should count that day lost which records no victory over some fault or secret sin, no new gain in self discipline, in the culture of the spirit, no enlargement of the power of serving, no added feature of likeness to the Master. “The inward man is renewed day by day.”
This does not mean that all days are alike in their gain. There are special dates in every spiritual history which are memorable forever for their special advance — days when decisive battles are fought, when faults are discovered and conquered, when new visions of Christ are granted, when the heart receives a new accession of divine life, when one is led into a new field of service, when a new friend comes into the life, when one takes new responsibilities or enters into new relations.
Then there are days in every life when there would seem to be no spiritual advancement. We all have our discouraged days. We have days that are stained by folly, marred by mistakes, blurred and blotted by sin; and these seem to be lost days. There are days when we appear to fail in duty or in self control, or in struggle with temptation. The inner man would appear to be crippled and hurt in such experiences as these; and the days would seem to be idle and useless, without profit or progress. We come to the evening with sad confessions of failure, and with painful regret and disheartenment. But even such times as these are really gaining times, if we are living near the heart of Christ. We are at least learning our own weakness and frailty, the folly of self-dependence, the feebleness of our own best resolves. Ofttimes our defeats prove our greatest blessings. No doubt many of our richest gains are made on the very days on which we weep most sorely over our mistakes and failures.
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