Where our self-interest sleeps and the real interest is awakened.
“They . . . remained with Him that day . . . .” That is about all some
of us ever do. We stay with Him a short time, only to wake up to our own
realities of life. Our self-interest rises up and our abiding with Him
is past. Yet there is no circumstance of life in which we cannot abide
in Jesus.
“You are Simon . . . . You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42).
God writes our new name only on those places in our lives where He has
erased our pride, self-sufficiency, and self-interest. Some of us have
our new name written only in certain spots, like spiritual measles. And
in those areas of our lives we look all right. When we are in our best
spiritual mood, you would think we were the highest quality saints. But
don’t dare look at us when we are not in that mood. A true disciple is
one who has his new name written all over him— self-interest, pride, and
self-sufficiency have been completely erased.
Pride is the sin of making “self” our god. And some of us today do this, not like the Pharisee, but like the tax collector (see Luke 18:9-14).
For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of
pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to
make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside
the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a
saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do
not believe that God can make you into one. You say it would be all
right if God saved you and took you straight to heaven. That is exactly
what He will do! And not only do we make our home with Him, but Jesus
said of His Father and Himself, “. . . We will come to him and make Our
home with him” (John 14:23).
Put no conditions on your life— let Jesus be everything to you, and He
will take you home with Him not only for a day, but for eternity.
No comments:
Post a Comment