Article September 19, 1970 Issue

Signs of the Times

F. W. Bakewell

The Beacon

The Reverend F. W. Bakewell
Christ Church (Congregational)
in The Beacon
Morecambe, Lancashire, England

The Christian life must never be thought of as something isolated from what a man may call his legitimate secular pursuits. A man does not act now and again as a Christian and at another time as a politician or a schoolmaster ...or a tradesman or whatever else he may be. Christian vocation does not cut across life's normal activities, it is bound up with their every aspect, and thereby gives to it a special quality and a spiritual significance. The life of the individual Christian is something which is in the process of becoming a unity. A Christian is one in whose life the division between the secular and the sacred is ceasing to have any reality.

This is the kind of unity Paul is talking about in Ephesians, Chapter 4. In particular he emphasises the preservation of that unity of the Spirit which should show itself in those who are disciples of Christ. The unifying of the Christian's own life is not an end in itself but must reach out into the Christian fellowship, the corporate life of the Church. The Spirit brings men together in a fruitful fellowship and in so doing transcends all those superficial differences which might set them apart....

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Signs of the Times

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access