169 The Tabernacle "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, perse- cuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Phil. 3: 5, 6) . How Saul of Tarsus delighted in each feature, as he looked at himself in his own mirror! But on the road to Damascus he saw the Lord Jesus; and that vision of the sinless Saviour and Lord broke his heart. With the memory of that glory, he wrote, saying, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse (R. V.), that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. 3:7-9). Then Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, wrote one of the most beautiful of Bible prayers, saying, ". . . that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made com.formable unto his death . . ." (Phil. 3:10). Earlier in his ministry he had written to the Roman Christians, showing them the struggle between the two natures-the old nature under the law and the new na- ture in Christ Jesus. Turning to the law, which con- demned his sins, seeking to use it as a means to holiness, he saw himself as a struggling, despairing sinner. Forty times in the seventh chapter of Romans he used the per- sonal pronoun-"!," "me," "my." The result was that he cried out in agony of soul,
168 The T,bmi,clt amine our hearts in the light of God's Holy Word, like Job, we "abhor" ourselves. Like Paul, we see that in us; that is, in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. (See Job 42:6; Rom. 7:18.) Our mirrors reflect our natural beauty or our deformities; but they can not alter our appearance. Not so with God's Word. It reveals our sins to our quick- ened hearts; and it can wash us "whiter than snow"! Only the grace of God put into the hearts of the women in Israel the desire to give up the mirrors which revealed to them their natural beauty. And only the grace of God can put into our hearts the desire to give up our own self-righteousness, to kneel at the foot of the cross, asking for cleansing that will cause the beauty of the Lord to rest upon us. As we surrender our own "fancied beauty," as we let the Holy Spirit apply the Mirror of the soul, then we learn how God can cleanse and empower for service which will honor Him and make us happy in the doing. We have a striking illustration of the natural use of the mirror in the Pharisee of Luke 18:9-14, who "prayed thus with himself," "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publi- can." Again he looked into his mirror, and added, "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." How satisfied that Pharisee was with himself! Paul, likewise, before he was converted on the Damas- cus road, boasted in the heritage that he had through Abra- ham:
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online