Have we ever felt this need of drinking into that One Spirit? Everything connected with the true Church of Christ must be spiritual, it is this which is being lost sight of in the present day, and it is the reason why there is so little power and so few conversions.
Have you ever tried to understand why the Church is called "the Body of Christ"? Think first about your own body. It is the only part of your real self that can be seen. I cannot see your heart or your thoughts, but I know what your thoughts are by your words, and what you feel by the look of joy or sorrow in your face, and by the way you go about.
It is by your body that your real personality is made known to others; what you really are would never be seen unless your body made it known. In the same way the Church is the Body in order to make Christ known in the world. He is hidden from our view, He is unseen, but He manifests Himself and shines out through us, and He sends us to carry His messages and to do His Will.
This was the earnest desire of the Apostle Paul when he said that he was willing that the old self should be taken away so that "the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." [Footnote: 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11.]
This is what the Church is here on earth for, to make the unseen Christ known. Just as every drop of water reflects the light, so every member of the Church, however weak and small, can reflect His love.
Is His compassion for sinners beaming in your eye? Is His purity seen in your daily life? Do you judge things from His standpoint?
I remember when some one was telling me why she loved a Christian worker whom we both knew, she added, "I love her for what I see of Christ in her."
Think of Christ exalted in Heaven far above all things, and remember He is there not for Himself, but for you. "He is Head over all things to His Body, the Church." [Footnote: Eph. i. 22, 23.]
It is wonderful to think of this union with Christ, that we are His Body and He is the Head; but there is another wonder quite as great, it is that He is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. When we speak of the Church as the Body of Christ, it is a living union, life is the one thought brought out; when we speak of Christ as the Bridegroom it is love which is the chief point. It brings out the affection, tenderness and nearness of the Bridegroom. "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies, He that loveth His wife loveth Himself." [Footnote: Eph. v. 28-30.]
We have nothing so wonderful in the Old Testament. Think of the depths out of which we have come, and the heights to which we are raised. "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory." [Footnote: 1 Sam. ii. 8.] Think of the sinner lifted out of all his bondage and ruin to be the Bride of the Lamb! There is nothing higher that God can give than this. This will be our glorious position by and by when the Bridegroom comes to take us to our Heavenly Home, for His parting words were, "I will come again and receive you unto Myself." [Footnote: St. John xiv. 3.]