There is nothing like retirement for the soul, if one is occupied with the Lord Jesus, and not with himself. Occupation with Him results in my being more like Him, and more apart from myself. Occupation with myself is like the serpent’s eye that lures its victim to destruction. The more I am taken up with myself, the more important I make myself in my own eyes, and the more I am interrupting the growth of the Lord Jesus in me (Eph 4:15). It is not that I am to be indifferent about my condition, but how am I to judge it?
Is it by feeling and fumbling over everything in the dark, examining the whole case of the patient, without either knowing the condition of one in health, or how to produce it; or is it by bringing in One who is the true measure of everything, and who, as He gets place with me, displaces and condemns everything displeasing to Himself? In the latter case there are two things: there is the introduction of One who entirely and transcendently preoccupies the heart, and who supplies to it, as He does, strength and fullness of joy; the other is, He repels and rebukes all the carnality and selfishness which He finds in my heart.
Now, when I am occupied with myself, I never get rid of anything, no matter how I may condemn it. All the sin and incongruities remain as before. I may traverse them dolefully, as one does gravestones, but there they are, and there they remain, registers of sorrow and vexation. I may very truly mourn over them, and afflict myself because of them, but that does not clear my heart of any of them; they meet me at every turn; nay, further, the more my eye rests on them, the more grievous and painful they become to me.
When the stronger comes is, he takes away the goods in which we naturally trusted. The true converse of the heart is with its Object, and if I make my own heart my object, I am like the fool that folds his arms, and eats his own flesh. But if I have the Lord Jesus in His own place, then the more I am in fellowship with Him, and the more do I seek to maintain it; whereas, in the other case, I am never drawn into fellowship without sorrow.
I appreciate contemplative souls, but the more contemplative we are with ourself, the more we betray what we are occupied with. Is it with myself, or with Him who imparts Himself to me thereby, and exposes and drives away all the noxious weeds which would occupy and damage me? Hence, while the contemplation is most desirable, it is of all importance that there should be a true object before the mind and heart, for whatever the object is will be disclosed in the walk.
If the Lord Jesus be the object of your contemplation, you will find that you really are made ready for action for Him; whereas, if it is for yourself, you will be less and less ready; your weapon will be unloaded, and you without energy or inclination for action. Contemplation with a true Object gives a readiness and a strength for action; the gun loaded and ready. But when the object is oneself, one is enervated, inactive and silenced; the piece is spiked, and the courage is gone.
—J B Stoney (1814-1897)
MLS daily devotional for February 13
“When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, it is to remove self from the throne of our hearts. When the Holy Spirit fills us, it is to place the Lord Jesus on the throne of our hearts. Ours is the choice—”not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20); His is the work, for He is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2).” -MJS
“The great secret of the Christian life is found in ceasing from self, in which the power of the Cross manifests itself in us. We all know how our Lord Jesus, ere He could receive the new life from the Father in glory, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom He could impart His life to His people, had first to give up the life He lived upon earth. He had to take His place among the dead in utter weakness and helplessness before He could live again by the power of God. His death on the Cross was indispensable to the life of the Spirit.
“And as it was with Christ, so it must be with us. As we yield ourselves to be united with Him in the likeness of His death, we can share with Him in the glory and power of the life of the Spirit. To know what the Holy Spirit means, implies the knowing of what death means. The Cross and the Spirit are inseparable. The soul that understands that the death to self is in Christ the gate to true life, is in the right way to learn what and who the Holy Spirit is.” –Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917)
Is it by feeling and fumbling over everything in the dark, examining the whole case of the patient, without either knowing the condition of one in health, or how to produce it; or is it by bringing in One who is the true measure of everything, and who, as He gets place with me, displaces and condemns everything displeasing to Himself? In the latter case there are two things: there is the introduction of One who entirely and transcendently preoccupies the heart, and who supplies to it, as He does, strength and fullness of joy; the other is, He repels and rebukes all the carnality and selfishness which He finds in my heart.
Now, when I am occupied with myself, I never get rid of anything, no matter how I may condemn it. All the sin and incongruities remain as before. I may traverse them dolefully, as one does gravestones, but there they are, and there they remain, registers of sorrow and vexation. I may very truly mourn over them, and afflict myself because of them, but that does not clear my heart of any of them; they meet me at every turn; nay, further, the more my eye rests on them, the more grievous and painful they become to me.
When the stronger comes is, he takes away the goods in which we naturally trusted. The true converse of the heart is with its Object, and if I make my own heart my object, I am like the fool that folds his arms, and eats his own flesh. But if I have the Lord Jesus in His own place, then the more I am in fellowship with Him, and the more do I seek to maintain it; whereas, in the other case, I am never drawn into fellowship without sorrow.
I appreciate contemplative souls, but the more contemplative we are with ourself, the more we betray what we are occupied with. Is it with myself, or with Him who imparts Himself to me thereby, and exposes and drives away all the noxious weeds which would occupy and damage me? Hence, while the contemplation is most desirable, it is of all importance that there should be a true object before the mind and heart, for whatever the object is will be disclosed in the walk.
If the Lord Jesus be the object of your contemplation, you will find that you really are made ready for action for Him; whereas, if it is for yourself, you will be less and less ready; your weapon will be unloaded, and you without energy or inclination for action. Contemplation with a true Object gives a readiness and a strength for action; the gun loaded and ready. But when the object is oneself, one is enervated, inactive and silenced; the piece is spiked, and the courage is gone.
—J B Stoney (1814-1897)
MLS daily devotional for February 13
“When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, it is to remove self from the throne of our hearts. When the Holy Spirit fills us, it is to place the Lord Jesus on the throne of our hearts. Ours is the choice—”not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20); His is the work, for He is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2).” -MJS
“The great secret of the Christian life is found in ceasing from self, in which the power of the Cross manifests itself in us. We all know how our Lord Jesus, ere He could receive the new life from the Father in glory, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom He could impart His life to His people, had first to give up the life He lived upon earth. He had to take His place among the dead in utter weakness and helplessness before He could live again by the power of God. His death on the Cross was indispensable to the life of the Spirit.
“And as it was with Christ, so it must be with us. As we yield ourselves to be united with Him in the likeness of His death, we can share with Him in the glory and power of the life of the Spirit. To know what the Holy Spirit means, implies the knowing of what death means. The Cross and the Spirit are inseparable. The soul that understands that the death to self is in Christ the gate to true life, is in the right way to learn what and who the Holy Spirit is.” –Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917)