December 28 "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God" (Galatians 2: 20). When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, He first of all said, "Live," because life is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters. Until it is given, we are incapable of partaking in the things of the Kingdom. The life which grace confers on the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the life of Christ. Like the sap from the stem, faith runs into us, the branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. Faith knows His excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce it to place its trust elsewhere. Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace that He never ceases to strengthen and sustain faith by the loving embrace and all-sufficient support of His eternal arms. Here, then, is established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness betweenn itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both and the one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then the heart is as near heaven as it can be while on earth and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.