If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away.
— 2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never nurses our prejudices, He mortifies them, runs clean athwart them. We imagine that God has a special interest in our particular prejudices; we are quite sure that God will never deal with us as He has to deal with other people. “God must deal with other people in a very stern way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” We have to learn – “Not a bit of it!”
Instead of God being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately wiping them out. It is part of our moral education to have our prejudices run straight across by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is not a bit of the old order left, the old solemnity goes, the old attitude to things goes, and “all things are of God.” How are we going to get the life that has no lust, no self-interest, no sensitiveness to pokes, the love that is not provoked, that thinketh no evil, that is always kind? The only way is by allowing not a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple perfect trust in God, such trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want Himself. Have we come to the place where God can withdraw His blessings and it does not affect our trust in Him? When once we see God at work, we will never bother our heads about things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in Heaven Whom the world cannot see.
On this day...
- The Second Book of Discipline (1578) - Works of John Knox - 2010
- The First Book Of Discipline (1560) - Works of John Knox - 2010
- The First and Second Books of Discipline - Preface - 2010
- The First and Second Books of Discipline - Publisher Intro - 2010
- RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES OF THE SCOTTISH MARTYRS - 2010
- Purtitan Library - 2010
- My 2010 Writing Leave: What? and Why? - 2010
- One Dream for Bethlehem in My 8-Month Absence - 2010
- Tolerance - 2010
- Consider Your Calling - 2010
October 18, 2010