ling in our hearts._ The word translated "dwell" in this
passage is a very strong word. It means literally, "to dwell down," "to
settle," "to dwell deep." It is the work of the Holy Spirit to form the
living Christ within us, dwelling deep down in the deepest depths of our
being. We have already seen that this was a part of the significance of
the name sometimes used of the Holy Spirit, "the Spirit of Christ." In
Christ on the cross of Calvary, made an atoning sacrifice for sin, bearing
the curse of the broken law in our place, we have _Christ for us_. But by
the power of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon us by the risen Christ we have
_Christ in us_. Herein lies the secret of a Christlike life. We hear a
great deal in these days about doing as Jesus would do. Certainly we ought
as Christians to live like Christ. "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought
himself so to walk even as He walked" (1 John ii. 6). But any attempt on
our part to imitate Christ in our own strength will only result in utter
disappointment and despair. There is nothing more futile that we can
possibly attempt than to imitate Christ in the power of our own will. If
we fancy that we succeed it will be simply because we have a very
incomplete knowledge of Christ. The more we study Him, and the more
perfectly we understand His conduct, the more clearly will we see how far
short we have come from imitating Him. But God does not demand of us the
impossible, He does not demand of us that we imitate Christ in our own
strength. He offers to us something infinitely better, He offers to form
Christ in us by the power of His Holy Spirit. And when Christ is thus
formed in us by the Holy Spirit's power, all we have to do is to let this
indwelling Christ live out His own life in us, and then we shall be like
Christ without struggle and effort of our own. A woman, who had a deep
knowledge of the Word and a rare experience of the fullness that there is
in Christ, stood one morning before a body of ministers as they plied her
with questions. "Do you mean to say, Mrs. H----," one of the ministers
asked, "that you are holy?" Quickly but very meekly and gently, the elect
lady replied, "Christ in me is holy." No, we are not holy. To the end of
the chapter in and of ourselves we are full of weakness and failure, but
the Holy Spirit is able to form within us the Holy One of God, the
indwelling Christ, and He will live out His life through us in all the
humblest relations of life