Issue 87: Sufficient in God Alone
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
Good evening, my friend! How are you doing? How’s your walk with God going?
A greater part of our walk with the Lord will comprise many moments of realising that we are not sufficient of ourselves. This reality always dawns when God’s children dare to think their enviable Christian lives resulted from their disciplines. Often, God will allow them to fall so He can reawaken them again to His supreme work of keeping His saints (Jude 1:24).
In one of our 2022 newsletters titled “Cattle Egret,” I shared how it took an experience for 1 Cor. 10:12 to come alive in me:
Therefore let the one who thinks he stands firm [immune to temptation, being overconfident and self-righteous], take care that he does not fall [into sin and condemnation].
- 1 Corinthians 10:12 AMP
In Issue 79: The Lord, Thy Keeper, I also shared an experience, highlighting how we fall from grace when we trust in our disciplines above His promise to keep us. Today, the lesson is not different. God is saying to us again and again that it is not our hold of Christ that saves us — it is Christ.
What then should be our response?
We must put no confidence in the flesh - Philippians 3:3
We must count all things but loss - Philippians 3:8
We must decrease while He increases - John 3:30
If we, through experience, internalise these dealings of God, our lives are transformed, emitting the sweet-smelling savour of the life of Jesus. That way, we can teach others and we can sympathise with others in their weaknesses. Peter could only strengthen his brethren after he had fallen, repented and was reinstated.
Only those who have experienced God’s mercy can reach out to others with God’s mercy. Have you experienced God’s mercy, or do you still feel deserving because of your strict observance of God’s law?
As we draw the curtains, I’ll leave you with a meditation that continues to grip my heart:
Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits.
Therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.
If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him.
Oh! Let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.
- Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning - June 28.
It is one thing to reverently long to please God in all things; it is another thing to stay reminded that it is HIM, not our consecrations, that has kept us on course.
May the Lord bless His Word in your heart through Christ our Lord, Amen!
Till next time,
Wednesday, God willing.
"Therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ."🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼.
Oh! The temptation to believe our efforts birthed the results we see, forgetting the one who gave the increase!
Lately, The LORD, through an experience, brought me to the understanding that when I obey His Word, I need not expect any reward; like it is clearly stated in Scripture, "I am an unprofitable servant, I've only done what I ought to do."
The Joy however is found in this Truth, "I didn't do it, Christ did it through me."🙌🏼