When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now
the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. (2 Corinthians
3:16,17)
Liberty from what? Well,
if we turn to the Lord, and are occupied with Him in the way we have indicated,
the Holy Spirit sets us free. It may be you are struggling, striving, fighting,
wrestling, praying, pleading, longing, yearning, asking the Lord to set you free
from condemnation, free from fear, from those paralyzing bonds in which
Israel was when the glory appeared. Do you want to be free from fear, from
dread, from terror, from condemnation? What are you doing to get free? There is
one simple, direct way, namely, to be occupied with the Lord, to turn to the
Lord. Get Christ as God's satisfaction in your view, and cease trying to satisfy
God yourself. Faith in Christ is all God's requirement. How deeply true were His
words, "Apart from Me ye can do nothing." "Abide in Me. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye
abide in Me." That is only figurative language, which means be occupied with
Him, set your mind on Him, dwell in Him, rest in Him, abide in Him; or, as Paul
would say, "Gaze on Him, behold Him," let Him be the object of your occupation,
and the Spirit will make you free.
More than that, this beholding of Christ means that the Holy
Spirit changes you into God's likeness: "Beholding... we are changed." It is not
said, "Beholding, we begin to change ourselves," and we embark upon
self-transformation with all its struggle, and conflict, and battle. We are
changed by the Lord the Spirit. Be occupied with Christ, and the Spirit takes up
the matter of transforming into His image. Be occupied with yourself, and you
will see that the law of conformity to type operates. If you are the type, then
you will conform to that type. If Christ is the type, then the Holy Spirit will
conform to His likeness. Then this being occupied with Christ means that the
Holy Spirit makes us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant. I do not think
that ministry is such an onerous thing after all. We need to come back to the
simplicity and the spontaneity of ministry. Be occupied with Christ, and the Holy
Spirit will show you more and more in Christ with which to be occupied, and as
He makes that livingly real, you will have something to give to others.