by H. C. G. Moule
j
Self Denial and the But already the earnest soul, athirst for a personal experience of what we have been depicting, has asked itself, “How shall I, with my thousand difficulties, get what I thirst for?” Here we will try to deal with the one difficulty that under lies the thousand. That difficulty is “ self.” And self -denial is the first condition to this life of calm and humble spiritual victory, or better “ If any man will come [willeth to come] after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Let us study these familiar words a little in detail.
|f, in the believer’s life, the prom ises of God are taken as they stand, they are found to be true. We may just so far linger over this side of the great truth before us as to make a reflection at once humiliating and encouraging; the reflection that no one definite act of sinning, as I look back upon it, need have taken place. Every act of sinning, yes, down to the sin of thought, or states of thought, displeasing to God, is a contradiction to first principles of the gospel. Put the case of those inner emotions of wrong which seem most to defy repression. Take the last transient swell of petty im patience, or of unkind criticism; tilings which to the unawakened conscience look so small, to the awakened conscience so large. There is not one that need have taken place. To me, as a living and believing member of Christ, re sources are always open which can anticipate and prevent these things. Had I been walking that moment with God, abiding that moment in Christ, drawing that moment on the sanctifying Spirit’s power, I should not have lost my temper, I should not have thought unkindly: not only should I not have looked im patient, or indulged in needless severity of words. The occasion for the very feeling would have been as if it were not, because neutralized in Jesus Christ. And if that might have been true for the last five min utes, why should it not be tine for the next five, for the present min ute? “ I can do all things,” I have re s ou r ce s for all circumstances, “ through Christ which strengthen- eth me” (Phil. 4:13).
1) Observe the universality of reference. “ If any man wills to come after Me; whoever desires to follow My lead; then let this man, be he who he may, do thus: Let him deny himself, and daily take up his cross, and follow Me. Let any man who wills to follow Me, and does not do thus, by no means mar vel if his following, such as it is, proves to be a disappointing, a dis heartening thing. Let such a one prepare to find My yoke uneasy, and My burden heavy, and My commandments grievous.” 2) Then “ let him deny himself.” Always let us emphasize, in thought and in tone, that last word, “ let him deny himself.” And what is self- denial? The word is often and much mistaken in common use, as if it meant much the same as self-con trol — the control of lower ele ments of our being by higher. If a man postpones the present to the future, resolving on present loss for the sake of future gain, this is often called self-denial. If a man, for some high object of his own, abjures inferior pleasures, “ scorns delights, and lives laborious days,” this is often called self-denial. If, in the highest sphere, for the sake of rest hereafter, he inflicts on himself great unrest now, this too is often called self-denial. Now the doing of such things may be wrong or may be right in itself; but it is not self-denial as the
Prayer Each morning at eight the, , editorial staff of King's^ Busi ness magazine gat he rs for prayer. Over the years God h6s answered the heartcry of thou sands. Should you have a request we would count fit a privilege to take it to the throne of grace. Your request .will be held in the strictest confidence. Address; The Edi- : |,1 tors, King's Business, 558 So. Hope St.yLos Angeles 17, Calif.* call it, spiritual deliverance. It is no unconditional thing. Right and left, the highway of holi ness has its edge, its limit, its sine qua non: on the one hand, the Lord and childlike trust in Him and in His words; on the other hand, among them, self-denial and the daily cross.
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