When they were alone, He explained all things to His
disciples. —Mark 4:34
Our Solitude with Him. Jesus doesn’t take us aside and
explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to
understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us
to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of
time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be
used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own
character. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We don’t even
recognize the envy, laziness, or pride within us when we see it. But Jesus will
reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to
work. How many of us have learned to look inwardly with courage?
We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves.
That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is
God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. If we have ever had a
glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we will never say, “Oh, I’m so
unworthy.” We will understand that this goes without saying. But as long as
there is any doubt that we are unworthy, God will continue to close us in until
He gets us alone. Whenever there is any element of pride or conceit remaining,
Jesus can’t teach us anything. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the
disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal
numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He
would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect.
But when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear.
"We can only be
used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own
character. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We don’t even
recognize the envy, laziness, or pride within us when we see it. "
I've come to realize that
-We don't see them because we hide behind them and we rename them as
positive traits embraced by the secular world and we embrace them as positive
attributes.... KB
No comments:
Post a Comment