November 28th
The bounty of the destitute
Being justified freely by His grace … Romans 3:24.
The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment because the revelation it brings is not palatable. There is a particular pride in man that will give and give, but coming and accepting is another thing. I will share my life to martyrdom; I will give myself in consecration; I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner. Tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We must realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there, Our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves; we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts us the quickening life of Jesus. He puts ‘the beyond’ within, and immediately the beyond has come within. it rises up to ‘the above.’ We are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives. (John 3:5.)
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986. Print.
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