Christ Formed Within

 The following is from G. Campbell Morgan's The Life of the Christian:

"Christ must be formed within by the communication of Himself, first in the realm of identification with His death on the Cross, and then in the spacious glory of union with Him in the triumph of His resurrection.

"Here we have reached the realm of mystery, and it is quite conceivable that some enquiring heart will say, How can these things be? By such question two things may be intended.

"If the question be as to what are the conditions upon which these things may be, it can be answered. If on the other hand, the question ask the explanation of the process of the Spirit in the communication of the Christ life, there is no answer.

"None can perfectly understand that act of the Spirit of God in which He communicates to the individual soul the very Christ life itself. That it is done upon certain conditions is however absolutely certain, and moreover, the conditions are clearly stated.

"In that moment when the soul submits to the claim of Christ, Christ is formed within by the Holy Spirit. Directly there is submission to Him as the absolute Lord of life, and trust reposed in Him for the putting away of sin, and for the communication of life; then, by a process utterly beyond the explanation of men, the Spirit communicates Christ's life, and Christ begins to live and reign and work in the soul of the submitted and trusting one.

"There can be no simulation of this life of Christ. It must be Christ in us. Holiness is not it. It is Him! Purity is not an abstract quality communicated as apart from Christ. It is Christ in the life, 'breathing through the pulses of desire, His coolness and His balm,' quenching passion's fires, and lighting the new fires of God, and of holy aspiration."