A good friend of mine once told me that the real beauty of Christ's resurrection is that we walked out of the tomb right behind Him. Just as we shared in His death, we also share in His risen life. Living in the wake of the resurrection is a real thing; it doesn't stop short, hovering in the realm of fairy tales and nice-sounding spiritual language. It takes over. It demands that we hold nothing back from the onslaught of new life.
How are we able to recognize this new life? How are we to live it? By Christ alone. He is the One who causes us to know Him, and He is the One who shows us the steps to walk in. If we seek to align ourselves with any human institution--any great teacher, any impressive sounding spiritual language--even the best clanging cymbal cannot be Christ for us. Nothing is good unless it comes to us through the Vine. We cannot hope to grasp more of Christ through the knowledge of great teachers; it must always go the opposite way.
Even the richest doctrine is false compared to Christ. The greatest spiritual mind is a dangerous trap if we trust to it. The sweetest hymns are dry and worthless unless they have been set afire by the passion of Christ Himself. The deepest knowledge man has ever gained will pass away, but the foolishness that waits in secret places to hear the voice of Jesus--words that will never pass away--oh give me such foolishness! Let me never speak again, if in the quiet shadows I can know even a little of Your Heart, my Savior!
If we have walked out of the tomb with Christ, we aren't allowed to take anything with us. Our strength, our wisdom, our sentimentality and righteousness are dead. Let us bypass the reformations, the varying ages of the Church and Her suitors throughout the centuries, and take hold of Christ, asking Him to show us the Ancient Paths, where men might walk with Him in newness of life.
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