IT is said that during the sixteenth century, when Elizabeth was queen of England, Sir Walter Raleigh won her favor by spreading his cloak down before her, as she was about to step over a muddy place in her path. And for this act of humiliating service to the queen, she made him one of her courtiers, and ever afterward esteemed him most highly.
But when James I. succeeded Queen Elizabeth to the throne, Sir Walter was no longer a favorite with the ruling sovereign, for the king did not regard him at all in a friendly manner. At length, finding some accusation against him, he ordered him to be beheaded and on a set day, Sir Walter was brought before the executioner. When everything was in readiness for the execution to proceed, Raleigh paused before the block upon which his head was soon to be placed, and balancing the executioner’s ax in his hand, felt its keen edge and said, “This is a sharp medicine: but it will cure all diseases.” Yes, and that was quite true, for after the ax had done its work, nothing would remain but a lifeless body; and, therefore, every disease and malady that man is heir to would come to an end.
God tells us that His word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. And that, dear reader, is the sharp medicine that cures every spiritual disease which sin has given rise to. When that word takes effect upon us, it leaves us entirely free from sin, as having power over us. Sin is no longer our ruling master that we should obey it in fulfilling its lusts. The Bible tells us that he that is dead is freed from sin. And every Christian is dead in God’s sight, for he is looked upon as having died with Christ. The word of God gives us a rpm life, and it is in the power of that new life, through the Spirit, that we are to walk and glorify God.
But while we are left in this world, we still have the old life and nature in us, but it forms no part of us in God’s sight; and we are not for a moment to allow it to control us, as it used to before we were converted. It is just because we still have sin dwelling in us that we need God’s word as a “sharp medicine” to search our hearts, and to keep them pure before Him. When His word keeps Us and controls us, then we “mortify our members that are upon the earth,” and we do not sin. We walk as those that are “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Christ Jesus.”
Another, precious lesson we may get from this little story is that of serving Jesus. We know certainly that we can do nothing to merit God’s favor as lost ones. Christ alone could do the work by which we are brought to God, forgiven and justified from all things.
But, then, as those who BELONG to Christ, we may gain His favor by being His loyal servants. Just as Sir Walter Raleigh debased himself and stripped himself of his cloak for the sake of the queen, so we may give up all that we have for Christ, and, laying aside our own honor, devote our lives to His dear service.
ML 05/11/1902