The Exchanged Liffe

THE EXCHANGED LIFE.

 

This term was the title of a recent article I read by Jim Watt about the life of Hudson Taylor. I was especially interested in the letter Mr. Taylor had written to his sister shortly after receiving this further revelation about his life in Christ. He lived during the later half of the 1800's and died in 1905.

It was during this time that the so-called "Holiness Movement" became popular among Evangelical Christian leaders, and produced such men as Hudson Taylor and A B Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, (C&MA) denomination. Many other men like John Wesley and General William Booth had their roots in this movement as well. It seems that since the beginning of the 1900's the emphasis has changed from Sanctification leading to Holiness, to other things. In the last decades of the 20^th century since I have been part of the "Church", I have witnessed a continual decline in preaching and teaching on the subject of holiness. I'm nor sure of the reason for this, but it could tie in with the way our NA culture has changed. All the electronic gadgets that have come out in the last few years have caught the attention of many people and they have less time for God and His Word. He gets crowded out of our daily schedules, and is replaced with i pads, smart phones, emails, face book etc. Instead of having more time to spend with Him we have much less!

 

What can we do about this problem? I expect the answer to this question will involve a return to the subject of an "Exchanged Life" as Hudson Taylor refers to here. The Apostle Paul probably writes more about this topic than any other NT writer. When as Saul of Tarsus he met Jesus on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-9), he was completely changed from a religious Pharisee, to a "new creature in Christ" (2 Cor 5:17). Later after spending several years in the deserts of Arabia alone with the Lord, he became Paul the apostle and the writer of much of the NT scriptures. In (Eph 3:1-10) he was given by God the revelation of the "Church" which had remained a mystery until Paul came on the scene. When he wrote the letters Ephesians and Colossians, he explained more about who Jesus was and still is, and what it means to us when we trust Him completely. In (Gal 2:20-21) Paul explains the place of Christ in his life, that he "had been crucified with Christ" (past tense), but he now lived by"faith in the Son of God. This is a model we can follow if we want to live an "Exchanged Life"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer