Addressed to Me Personally
I am poor and
needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me; thou art my help and my deliverer; make
no tarrying, O my God. Ps. 40:17.
Do not let your
great need discourage you. The Saviour of sinners, the Friend of the
friendless, with compassion infinitely greater than that of a tender mother for
a loved and afflicted child, is inviting, "Look unto me, and be ye
saved" (Isa. 45:22). "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5). . . .
There is danger
of not making Christ's teachings a personal matter, of not receiving them as
though they were addressed to us personally. In His words of instruction Jesus
means me. I may appropriate to myself His merits, His death, His cleansing
blood, as fully as though there were not another sinner in the world for whom
Christ died....
There are toils
and conflicts and self-denials for us all. Not one will escape them. We must
tread the path where Jesus leads the way. It may be in tears, in trials, in
bereavements, in sorrow for sins, or in seeking for the mastery over depraved
desires, unbalanced characters, and unholy tempers. It requires earnest effort
to present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It takes
the entire being. There is no chamber of the mind where Satan can hold sway and
carry out his devices. Self must be crucified. Consecration, submission, and
sacrifices must be made that will seem like taking the very lifeblood from the
heart.
Will it make you
sad to be buffeted, despised, derided, maligned of the world? It ought not, for
Jesus told us just how it would be. "If the world hate you," He says,
"ye know that it hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18). The
apostle Paul, the great hero of faith, testifies: "For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us." (Rom. 8:18). "For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).
From That I May Know Him - Page 280
