_THE REVEALING PRESENCE OF THE LORD_
EPHESIANS vi. 1-10.
A starling never reveals the richness of its hues until we see it in the
sunlight. A duty never discloses its beauties until we set it in the light
of the Lord. It is amazing how a dull road is transfigured when the
sunshine falls upon it! God's grace reveals the graces in all healthy
things. Hidden lovelinesses troop out when we set them in the presence of
the Lord.
And so the Apostle counsels an obedience which is "in the Lord." He wants
us to know how beautiful common things can be when they are linked to
Christ. And what he says about obedience he says about everything. One of
the great secrets in the teaching of Paul is expressed in just this
phrase, "in the Lord," "in Christ." It meant connection with a power-house
whose energy would light up all the common lamps of life--the lamps of
hope, of faith, of love, of daily labour, and of human service.
And this is the secret of the Christian life. We need no other; at least,
all other secrets are involved in this. If we attend to this little
preposition "in," we have entry into the infinite. If we are "in Christ,"
we are in the kingdom of everything that endures, and we are outside
nothing but sin.